YuGiOh!: Heart of the hoops?
by Black Dragon of the Bayou
Summary: New author name, same content. What do you get when you throw together a losing basketball team, a gambling conspiracy, a rookie coach, and crazy love affairs? A recipe for a chapionship season or total carnage! Reviews are appreciated!
1. Empty Arena

A/N: What's up people? This is my attempt at some YGO fanfiction, combined with something else I enjoy, college basketball. I know there will probably be some skeptics out there about this idea, but hey, it could be the first of its kind as far as YGO goes here on Well…here's the prologue…please review and let me know what you think about it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, the NCAA or any of its member institutions. I think that should cover enough ground.

Yu-Gi-Oh: Heart of the Hoops

Prolouge: Empty Arena

_The Domino News: Sports Page_

_**Kansas Assistant Colby accepts coaching job at Domino City.**_

_In college basketball news today, Kansas assistant Nathan Colby accepted a job offer from Domino City University to become its new head men's basketball coach. One couldn't ask for a tougher assignment for his first head coaching job. Colby must attempt to rebuild a program that has seen only one conference championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance in twenty years. In the last five seasons, the Saints have gone 13-58, one of the worst marks in college basketball._

Nathan walked around the arena, getting a feel for his new "home". The gym was on the small side, seating around only 5,000, but was in beautiful shape. Much of the stadium was covered in the school's blue and grey colors. Nathan looked up at a banner up near the ceiling. It had the following inscription on it:

_Domino City Saints_

_1985 Metro-8 Conference Champions_

_NCAA Tournament Appearance_

_24-9 Record_

_Coach: Kelly Taylor_

"Kelly Taylor? That name sounds familiar." He thought to himself. "Isn't one of the old assistants named Taylor?" These thoughts were cut short by a visitor.

"Coach Colby?"

The black-haired man turned to see a young woman who appeared to be about the age of a college student. "Yes, can I help you?"

"Mr. Pegasus would like to meet with you, he said it's about your team's schedule." Nathan couldn't help but gaze over the woman, who had long black hair and sapphire eyes.

"Of course, could you direct me to his office? I'm still getting used to this place."

The woman smiled. "I guess you're not in Kansas anymore, are you?"

Nathan smiled back. "No, I'm not."

Deep down inside, he knew he finally had a place to call his own. Domino City was his home now, and this empty arena would be his sanctuary. That's how he wanted it. And that's how he hoped it would stay.


	2. Starting Over

A/n: What's up peeps? I'm happy to say that I have my first two reviews for this story. Not bad for less than 400 words! Unfortunately, some people have put so much into their work and haven't gotten any reviews, which is a shame. In any event:

_Zelda-Jewel: _I just want to say that your fic "My Way" rocks! Keep up the good work and thanks for reading.

_Egyptian Rose: _Thanks for the review. I hope that this fic can be an example to others to think outside of the box with their fanfics a little bit.

If you've read this fic and haven't posted a review, please feel free to do so! I appreciate feedback, even if its negative/critical. Just don't be jackasses! Get it? Good. Before I quit my wild ramblings, here are some terms I'll be using for the completely sports impaired:

_Power Conferences: _Major conferences in college sports. In basketball, the bigger conferences, like the Southeastern (SEC), Big 12, Atlantic 10, Pacific 10, Conference USA, etc. are considered power conferences. They usually get the most teams into the big NCAA National Tournament.

_Mid-major Conferences:_ Some of the smaller conferences in sports. In basketball, these include the Mid-American (MAC), the Sun Belt, and the West Coast (WCC). My fictional conference, the Metro-8, is a mid-major. These conferences usually only have one or two participants in the NCAA tournament.

"_On the bubble": _Just a stupid term someone came up with back in the day to describe a team who is on the borderline for qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

_Snow flaking: _A term used to describe a player who only plays hard on the offensive side of the ball.

If you have any other questions, related to the sport of college basketball or the fanfic in general, by all means ask in a review or email, I'll be glad to answer. Now, ON WITH THE FANFIC!!!

Yu-Gi-Oh: Heart of the…Hoops?

Chapter One: Starting Over

Nathan walked down the campus road to his new boss's office. He had already fallen in love with the campus, which had numerous buildings made of brick, several of those brand new. There were also many trees there, most of them tall oaks. "Excuse me...um what's your name, miss?"

"Ishizu. Ishizu Ishtar. Most people call me Isis." The woman looked over at her new colleague. He was wearing a light blue shirt and khaki pants. Simple, but it looked well on him.

"Alright, Isis. How did they get this beautiful campus inside a city this large?"

"About fifty years ago, the city set aside some land to build a university on these grounds. The university, in effect, was built before everything else you see here today…here we are. Mr. Pegasus should be in his office at the end of the hall. Oh, if you need anything.."

She reached into her pocket and gave him a business card. "You can reach me there."

Nathan took the card from her with a smile. "Thank you." He walked up the stairs into Pegasus's office, his mind on other things besides basketball.

I haven't been here a full day and I'm already falling for someone? God, she was beautiful! Maybe this new job won't be as hard as everyone says it's going to be…

His mind in a daze, Nathan walked straight into a guy walking in the hall.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Nathan studied the man he had bumped into. He was young, younger than himself (Nathan was 30), had spiky brown hair and a tall, lanky frame.

"It's alright…Hey! You're Coach Colby right?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

The young man extended his hand. "Tristan Taylor. I played here back in the mid-90s and have been an assistant ever since. I've heard good things about you."

Nathan shook Tristan's hand firmly. "Now I know why that name in the stadium was so familiar! Your dad coached that team in the 80s didn't he?"

Tristan smiled happily. "Yeah. That was fun watching him coach the team when I was a boy. He was a character."

"Indeed he was! I remember back when I played at Kansas, I saw run on the floor after a referee. It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. So…I guess you're my new assistant."

Tristan nodded. "Thanks for keeping me here, I'll try to be as much help as I can to you here."

"Your welcome. I didn't want to have a big staff, and I needed a solid recruiter. Pegasus recommended you, and I hired you on faith. I hope we can build a winner here."

"Me too. Don't you have a meeting with Pegasus?"

"Yes…I'll catch up with you later, and we can start looking at some game film. I want to evaluate our talent here. 8:00 fine with you?"

Tristan wrote it down in his memo book. "8:00 is good. We have a lot to do, I think."

After leaving Tristan, Nathan continued down the hall and into the office of his new boss: Maximillian J. Pegasus, Athletic Director.

"Good afternoon, coach. You're a few minutes late…was that a custom of yours in Kansas?"

Nathan laughed off the remark, hiding his annoyance. _Coach Hadley warned me about this guy. Everyone I've talked to about this job said that this guy could be a pain in the ass._

"I was meeting with my new assistant coach, we just ran over on our time. It's not a habit of mine to be late."

Pegasus gave Nathan a look that left him feeling a bit uneasy. "Good."

Pegasus turned his attention to a piece of paper on his desk. "Here is your schedule. I'm sure that you will find it rather…interesting."

Nathan scrolled over the paper with interest…that turned into a look of total shock.

"What are you trying to do, have me out of a job in record time?"

Pegasus smiled in sadistic fashion. "Whatever do you mean, Coach?"

"Look at the first half of our schedule! I've seen most of those teams in action, and I know there's no way we're above .500 before we get to conference play! Our first five games are on the road for goodness sake!"

Nathan looked down the schedule with a look of disbelief. "At Kentucky! At Louisiana State! At Louisville! At Duke! At Gonzaga! Do you know who those teams are? Four of those teams are from the power conferences, and they're pretty damn good at that! And Gonzaga, they're one of the best teams on the west coast! How the hell are we supposed to be able to compete in those games? From your recent struggles, I already know we don't have the talent to play with those guys. No wonder no one's been able to win here in twenty years, your schedule makes sure of that!"

"Welcome to the business that is college sports. They pay our school to come there, we take the loss and the check and go about our business."

"But.."

Pegasus cut him off. "I'm disappointed in you. I thought from your time at Kansas you learned about how these things worked. I'll make it crystal clear from you: We don't need titles from you…all we need is someone to baby-sit a few hormone-raging boys for a few months, nothing more. And as for your worries, I _did_ hire you to be the _coach_. Therefore, it's _your _job to figure out how to win those games, not mine. Understood?"

Nathan realized that, even though he was furious at Pegasus, he had a point. The team was _his_ problem now, and he had to find a way to fix it. _I just wish this prick would stop talking to me as if I were a child._

"Alright, I understand."

Pegasus gave him a pat on the back. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some other business to attend to."

Nathan turned to leave, schedule in hand. As he was in the doorway, Pegasus called out to him.

"Coach Colby, don't worry about your job…at least for now. The Alumni only start to grumble after about two or three seasons!" Pegasus let out a light chuckle as he got on the phone and went back to his business.

Pompous son-of-a-bitch! I'll find a way…I'll turn this place around! And maybe…just maybe…I'll achieve something that eluded me all my years in Kansas…

_The National Title! _

Nathan left the office, heading for his apartment. _I better get to work…our first game is in two months. Somehow, we must be ready to play Duke. I'll call Tristan and tell him to bring some game film._

**Next Time: Nathan looks over the game film and realizes just how much work he has to do! And…one of his players has an experience that could change the way he feels about the world around him. **

**Please Review and take care!**

**BigLos07…OUT! **


	3. Finding a Team, Part I

A/N: What's up? Probably the quickest I've updated a story in quite some time. To be honest, this was going to be the first chapter, but a spur of the moment sort of change told me to let this out at chapter two.

And my reviewers:

Armads: Where the heck are you man? I haven't heard from you in ages!!! If you happen to stumble on this, tell me what you think.

Egyptian Rose: Glad you like what's going on so far, hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Another quick tidbit, I have a Street Fighter fic up as well, so if you're down with that go give it a look and see how you like it. OK, let's get back to the story!

WARNING: Serenity/Seto romance alert! If you hate this couple, beware!

Chapter 2: Finding a Team

Nathan grew impatient as he watched the game film on his returning players. He only had four returning players, so he wanted to find out exactly what he would be getting from them. What he saw so far wasn't giving him a good impression of his returning talent.

"Hey Tristan, who in the hell is number 49? He looks pretty confused out there."

Tristan fumbled whatever he was writing and turned to talk to his new boss. "That's Joey Wheeler, sir. He was a freshman last year. Quit the team three times during the season. He was pretty good when he actually played; probably scoring about 14 points a game."

Nathan shook his head. "How in the hell did he quit three times? What's his deal?"

Tristan sighed. "I don't know for sure. Each time it was something different. He's come up with so many excuses for missed practices and games that I couldn't keep track."

Nathan said something inaudible, still studying the tape. Tristan took this as an opportunity to continue. "He's an enigma on the court too. Some games he will be calm and play pretty solid. Other times he's just cold and combative. That's when he usually would struggle."

Just then a player stole the ball from the opposing team, took it the end of the floor and made a lay-up. He had strange, tri-colored hair and appeared to be the shortest player on the court.

"Who's number 13?"

"That's Yugi Motou sir. A little undersized, but lots of heart. Not that talented, to be honest, but consistent. Gives all he has every night."

Nathan smiled as he continued to watch the film. "Sounds like someone I know. Is he going to be a sophomore as well?"

Tristan nodded his head, confirming for him.

Just then, the tape showed another undersized boy. He was a little bigger than Yugi, but had the same tri-colored hairstyle. He was making shots with relative ease, even with two players attempting to guard him.

"That's Yami Motou sir, Yugi's twin brother. Gives every bit of effort as his brother, and he's a little more athletic. Excellent shooter. I saw him at practice once; he didn't miss a shot for the entire practice."

Nathan raised an eyebrow, obviously surprised. "Didn't miss a shot, eh?"

"No sir."

"Well, looks like I have my shooter…What in the world? Tristan, who's number 30? What kind of player does something like _that?_"

The player Nathan was talking about was a tall brown-haired young man. He was obviously the tallest player on the team, and arguably the best built. Unfortunately, his potential was being overshadowed by the fact that he had just shoved his own coach, nearly igniting a brawl on his own bench.

"That's Seto Kaiba, sir. Most people call him a stuck-up prick, and I have to say I agree with 'em. He _never_ comes to practice, and he always gets into shouting matches with me and other members of the staff. We've tried and tried to get through to him, but he keeps on doing things his way."

"Hm….looks like we have ourselves a weed who thinks he's a flower. How did he get along with his teammates?" Nathan asked, already displeased with Kaiba.

"Well, he was pretty aloof to the whole team, but one player really got under his skin: Joey Wheeler. (A/N: Who didn't see that coming? LOL) they absolutely hate each other. I've had to break apart more than one of their fistfights."

Nathan turned off the tape, obviously disgusted by Kaiba's actions.

"We have a lot to fix and not a lot of tools to do it with. Practice starts in less than two weeks, and we need to find a team_ fast_. Our schedule makes it even harder for us."

Tristan looked up." We have our schedule finalized?"

Nathan nodded, then handed Tristan a piece of paper. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Tristan, this is going to be a tough road to travel. Those first four games are going to give us an idea of what we have to do with this team. At Duke, At Gonzaga, At Kentucky, and at Louisville. But the one I'm looking forward to most is At Louisiana State."

Tristan looked up from the paper. "Louisiana State? Why there? I thought you were from Kansas."

Nathan shook his head. "Baton Rouge is my hometown. I've never played or coached a game there…it's something I've been looking forward to for a long time."

Tristan smiled a little in understanding.

Nathan looked down there rest of the team's schedule. "Why do we have to play Gonzaga just three days before we start conference play? Talk about making it tough, those guys are pretty good."

"I see. You can thank our Athletic Director, Pegasus, for that. He loves to make our schedule rather difficult." Tristan was drinking some water he had brought with him to the film session.

"We have to win some of those other games. Navy and Arkansas come here, and we play Army on a neutral site. Mount Union on the road doesn't scare me that much and I think we can play well at Montana. If we don't win some of those games, we're going to be in for a long, long season."

Tristan looked out of the window, over the Domino City skyline. "This is a pretty young team, too. As you know we have nine freshmen on our squad, all should be eligible to play. All the rest are sophomores and juniors. I don't think we'll…"

"Tristan, don't worry. We'll find a way…or make one." Nathan reached into his refrigerator and got a bottle of orange juice.

"Who are those two who fought each other last year again?"

"Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba, sir."

"When we set up camp, I have something very special in mind for those two. That's all for tonight, Tristan."

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Coach." Tristan turned to leave, but stopped himself in the doorway.

"Um coach, there's something I want to say. I know more about our players than you do, with all due respect, and I see no reason why we can't start the season 10-0. What this program needs is a leader, and I hope you can be that man."

Nathan was taken aback by those words. _I don't get it. What does he see in this team that I don't? What does he see…in me? _

"Thanks. Good night."

Tristan nodded his head, and then closed the door.

_Tristan may be right about these young men, but I can't lead this team…they have to find a leader amongst themselves…_

Nathan sat on his sofa and turned on the evening news. The school helped him move into a new apartment, which was very close to the campus. He drank another swallow of his orange juice as he watched the local news.

_This is either going to be a disaster of a season or a great season…_

**Domino City Campus**

**Alexander Hall**

Seto Kaiba sat outside the entrance of his dormitory. His cold blue eyes were fixed merely on the pavement, he thought of what had occurred earlier today. Today, he had set his eyes on the most beautiful young woman he had ever seen. The only problem was that she was something that he hated immensely. Something he hated more than anyone who had ever challenged him on the basketball court. Something he hated even more than his step-father, who had beaten both he and his younger brother until he passed away. _No. I can't love her. _Seto thought to himself, trying to force this newfound emotion to go away... _How can I fall in love with a Wheeler?_

_Flashback_

_Earlier that day: _

Seto was sitting in the library, typing away on his laptop. He had already completed most of the work given to him by his instructors and professors, which would allow him to concentrate on basketball later on in the semester. As he was putting the finishing touches on an English term paper, something caught the corner of his eye. It was an image he would rather forget.

_Humph! What's Wheeler doing here? I didn't know the mutt could read; much less find his way to a library. Wait…who's that with him?_

"And dis is da library. This place is huge! There are lotsa quiet spaces, too, so that you can concentrate on your studyin', Serenity."

Joey's sister, Serenity, had decided to enroll at Domino University so that she could be closer to him and his friends.

"Dis place here is tha reference section…here you can find all sorts of stuff..."

"Like mutts who don't know how to be quiet in a public place." Joey turned to see an all-to familiar sight. The trench coat. The arrogant smirk. The cold blue eyes. Yep, it was him.

"Kaiba, what are ya doin here?" Joey demanded his tone definitely not one you would use with a friend.

"Succeeding in life…something you obviously know nothing about." Joey wanted to go over and punch Seto in the mouth, but Serenity was holding his arm, frantically shaking her head at him.

"What da hell is that supposed to mean Kaiba? You call sittin around typin on dat computa all day success?"

At this, Kaiba merely grunted. "Calm yourself, Wheeler. You don't want to make a scene in front of everyone do you?"

"Whateva. Anyways…we got a new coach. Some guy outta Kansas." Joey was still a little riled, but he decided to actually be civil with Kaiba…for once.

"I'm amazed someone actually took the job. To think, someone would actually coach a mutt like you." Kaiba gave his trademark smirk. He loved taunting Joey, mostly because of the reactions he got out of him.

"Go to hell. I got a call from Tristan, we start practicing tomorrow, about six in the afternoon. If you see the rest of da gang, let em know will ya?"

"Sure…" Kaiba looked over at Serenity. _It appears that the mutt's sister has grown up... rather nicely at that. What the hell am I saying? She's a Wheeler for God's sake! Why am I looking at her like that? _Indeed, Serenity had grown up. She was several inches taller than the last time Seto had seen her, and had cut her long brown hair a little shorter. But, the hair wasn't exactly what Seto was looking at. Seto was gazing aimlessly when his eyes made contact with hers. Suddenly his heart started to beat at an astounding rate, and Seto could have sworn it had gotten several degrees hotter.

"KAIBA!" Joey's voice brought Seto out of his trance for a moment.

"Huh?"

"Where are you, dreamland? I've been trying to tell ya for the past five minutes dat we're gonna meet the freshman tomorrow."

"Sorry, Wheeler, I'm a little slow with my translation of puppy. Please forgive me." Seto had on his trademark smirk again.

"You won't be able to translate a damn thing afta I beat da crap outta ya!" Joey rushed at Kaiba, who was able to get up from his chair and move out of Joey's way.

Just as Seto and Joey were about to come to blows, Serenity stepped in between them.

"STOP IT GUYS!"

Both young men stopped as she tried to calm them both down. "Joey, you know he says things like that to get you angry! Stop letting him bait you like that."

She then turned her attention to Seto. "And _YOU, _why do you have to be so cruel to my brother? What did he ever do to you?"

Seto looked directly into her brown eyes. "He was born."

Serenity suddenly lost her patience. She gave Seto a fierce backhand with her right, stunning not only Seto and her brother, but herself.

Seto didn't understand what was going on inside himself. He had just been assaulted by his rival's sister, and he wouldn't raise a finger. Why? It wasn't because he was afraid of Joey; he knew that much about it. Then a strange thought popped into his mind. Maybe he didn't fear Serenity, maybe he actually _cared _about her.

An awkward silence had settled over the three.

Serenity broke it, her voice clearly shaking.

"Maybe you should consider not being the meanest person on the planet…let's go Joey."

Serenity and Joey turned to leave, Seto just glaring at them.

_Most people…I could give a damn about what they think of me. Hell, I almost expect people to hate me now after first contact. But…something about her is different…not even Mokuba, bless his heart, makes me feel this way. She said something to me and I actually felt pain…What the hell is wrong with you, Seto? She's a Wheeler, nothing more. Get your focus back on your work..._

Seto sat back down and tried to work on his project, but to no avail. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and pounded his fist on his laptop keyboard in frustration.

_Dammit, this is pointless! I have to do something to take my mind off of her! _

Seto packed his things, and headed to his dorm bound and determined to forget all about this silly Wheeler girl and get on about his business.

_End of Flashback_

Love is a tricky emotion, however, and Seto would soon realize how trick of an emotion it is to get rid of.

**NEXT TIME: Yes, friends, next chapter we're talking about PRACTICE! (If you don't know who Allen Iverson is, disregard stupid attempt at joke) Nathan and the gang meet up for their first practice and they discover some talent from their newcomers. Plus, Ishizu overhears a rather interesting conversation between Pegasus and the University Board of Directors.**

**Until next time:**

**BIGLOS…OUT!**


	4. Finding a Team, Part II

**Whoa…two chappies in one day. I really need to get a life, lol. Anyway, I'm back with some more of the goods! (Or bads, depending on what you think of my writing.) **

**To my reviewers: **

_**Anime-ruthless**_**: Thanks for the compliments about the fic, and best of luck to your Eagles. (Even though I LOVE MY N.O. SAINTS!!!) Glad you got the little joke about A.I., even though it sucked.**

_**Egyptian Rose**_**: Thanks for your continued support. I do try to give the characters a certain "kick" to them, but also try for the most part to keep them in character.**

**WARNING! Shameless self-promotion ahead! Reader discretion advised! **

**I'll be updating both my Street Fighter and Teen Titan fics sometime in the next two weeks, so if you're down with that, be on the lookout for an update. As always, reviews are much appreciated! Back to the story!**

**Chapter Three: Finding A Team: Part II**

Nathan woke up early the next morning and went through his usual routine of reading the newspaper. On this day, it was the sports section that caught his attention.

_**The Domino News: Sports**_

_**Special Edition! Metro-8 Conference Basketball Preview!**_

_**Domino City University Saints**_

_**2004-2005 Men's Basketball Schedule**_

_**Coach: Nathan Colby**_

Oct. 2 Duke7:00

Oct. 9 Louisville6:45

Oct. 14 Kentucky 4:00

Oct. 31 Louisiana State7:00

Nov. 5William & Mary9:00

Nov. 9Navy3:00

Nov. 18Arkansas5:00

Nov. 28Harvard7:00

Dec. 5 Montana 5:00

Dec. 12Christmas Classic vs. Army 6:00

Dec. 29 Mount Union6:00

Jan 3Grambling State3:00

Jan. 7 GonzagaTBA

_Metro-8 Conference Schedule_

Jan. 10 Lazarus Polytech8:00

Jan. 19 Vermillion State9:00

Jan. 26Gotham Catholic4:00

Feb. 8Viridian College7:00

Feb. 16Mt. Pilgrim College8:00

Feb. 19 Saffron State7:00

Feb. 28Jump City University8:00

March 5-7 Metro-8 Conference Tournament TBA

_Conference Preview:_

_By: Alex Jaworski_

Well, Ladies and Gents! It's that time of year again! College Basketball is back in Domino City, and here's my preview of the Metro-8 Conference!

Viridian College: The Stallions are loaded with height and experience, but will be missing their top scorer from a year ago, Donovan Haslett. _Grade: B _

Lazarus Polytech: The Engineers are gearing for a run at the Metro-8 title with sophomore sensation Eric Bass leading the way. _Grade: B_

Gotham Catholic: The Crusaders have a lot of question marks, including depth at the center position. _Grade: C-_

Saffron State: Keep an eye out on senior Carey Ashe; he could be a force in the conference as the Trojans attempt to regain the Metro-8 crown from the Jump City Titans. _Grade: A-_

Vermillion State: Same ole tune for the hard-luck Lakers… They probably need freshmen Ash Morgan and Gary Oak to step up in a big hurry. _Grade: D –_

Mt. Pilgrim: Here's Mt. Pilgrim's first three games of the season: Georgia Tech, Kansas, Syracuse. That doesn't bode well for the Warhorses, who barely finished seventh in league play last season. _Grade: D _

Jump City University: The Titans return all five starters from last year's Metro-8 Championship squad, including juniors Garfield Logan, Richard Grayson and 7'4'' senior center Victor Sagat. Bad news for everyone else…really bad. _Grade: A_

Domino City: This team has a lot of problems: lack of depth, an inexperienced coach, no strong presence in the middle (no, Seto Kaiba doesn't count) and lack of leadership. Should be another long season for the Saints, who were dead last in the league last year, despite having All-Conference First Team honoree Yami Mutou returning. _Grade: D-_

After reading this, Nathan crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the trash. Then he had a thought…he picked the newspaper article out of the trash and cut out the part about his team.

_The press is good for two things, motivation and…um…well, at least they're good for SOMETHING._

He took the article and slid it underneath some papers on his clipboard.

_**Later that morning…**_

**Domino City University**

**Stafford Hall: Office of the Board of Directors**

"Our little plan is working out quite well, Mr. Pegasus. But we need to make sure that this Nathan doesn't ruin our plans." Weevil Underwood sat down on the far end of the meeting room, his gold-plated glasses shimmering in the light.

"Don't worry yourself Weevil. This plan of ours is foolproof. We're sure to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Marik…does Ishizu suspect anything?

The room turned to a blonde-haired man who was holding a cane with a head vaguely resembling the millennium eye. "Of course not, She's about as incompetent as can be."

He chuckled evilly. "Hiding the account books from her helps."

Ishizu listened in on the conversation through the giant doors of the office. Ever since she had become Pegasus's Assistant Athletic Director, she had suspicions about what he was doing with the school's money.

_Whatever's going on…my brother Marik is involved, like I thought from the beginning. Is that how we were able to afford to bring Malik here?_

"Enough bullshit already, when do we get our cuts?" Another blonde spoke up, this one wearing his trademark sunglasses. He chose to forego his usually American flag bandanna.

"You'll get them when the season's finished and not a second sooner, so shut your trap Keith!" Pegasus hissed. "That is…after we shut the program down."

"Shut it down? Are you sure that's a good idea? We've made a lot of money off of those boys, Pegasus." They turned to a large man, nearly 7 feet tall, with grey eyes and long black hair.

"Don't worry, Panik. We have enough money to fund new ventures now…there's no need for this pathetic basketball program to exist…poor little Nathan…it looks like he will be out of a job in record time!"

The entire room burst out into boisterous laughter. Pegasus had told them all earlier about his little encounter and the Board of Directors was very amused by it. They needed someone to take the fall…after all.

_So that's their plan…they've been stealing money from the Athletic Department and now they're going to shut down the school's primary sport! But…none of it makes any sense! How have they been stealing all of this money from under my nose the whole time? And why do they want to shut down the program that's bringing in the most cash anyway? I can't worry about that now, I've got to see the Chancellor about this! _

Ishizu suddenly felt someone behind her…she was petrified. Suddenly she found herself pinned against the wall. The man had grabbed her wrists and pinned them onto her chest.

"Miss Ishtar…you should know better than to eavesdrop! Shame on you."

Isis was stunned. She would have never thought that the Chancellor of the school himself was involved.

_It appears the Chancellor came to see me first…this isn't good…_

The boys had begun to assemble in their gym, ready to meet their new coach and begin work.

"Hey Yugi, have ya seen our schedule? We play Duke first!" Joey said with a great deal of enthusiasm.

"Duke…the ACC champions from last year…they're still pretty talented, aren't they Yugi?" Yami questioned. He may have been a better player than Yugi, but conceded that Yugi knew far more about the game than he could imagine.

"Yeah…Cameron Indoor Stadium is a tough place to play, at least's that's what I've heard."

"We can handle it." The two turned to see a young man with jet-black hair and piercing green eyes. He had a small scar on the right side of his face.

"And what makes ya so certain of dat, Duke?"

"Because _I'm _here now, and there's no way in hell we'll lose with me on the floor." Duke posed cockily in front of Yugi and Joey, which drew laughter from both of them. Duke was a grade behind them in high school, and was well known for his basketball skill and his many, many girlfriends.

"Humph! Don't think so highly of yourself, Devlin. You probably won't play a minute all season!" They turned to see another newcomer, this one with sandy-blonde hair.

"You must be Bakura. I'm Yugi, welcome to the Saints." Yugi extended his hand to his new teammate for a handshake.

"Welcome to hell is more like it." Bakura turned away from Yugi without shaking his hand. "When do we start this crap anyway?"

"Arrrrgh! How it be, landlubbers?" Mako addressed his new teammates. "The name's Mako, and I'm glad to be on board."

"Joey Wheeler here, nice to meet ya!" Joey and Mako shook hands, earning a roll of the eyes from Bakura. "Why did I leave London for this sausage-party anyway? I should have went to Oxford." He mumbled under his breath absent-mindedly.

"Then why did you come here…Bakura?" Bakura grunted again, recognizing the voice almost instantly. "Go to hell, Malik."

Malik slapped his friend on the back good-naturedly. "Nice to see you again, too."

Yugi took count of the people who had arrived, but found that someone was prominently missing. _Where's Kaiba, even HE didn't miss the first practice last year! Where could he be?_

The rest of the freshmen arrived before the appointed practice time, and they all began to practice their shooting without Kaiba. A few minutes later, Tristan and Nathan arrived. The team stopped as soon as they heard them enter, and when beckoned sat down on the team bench nearby.

"As I'm sure you've heard, I'm your new coach. My name's Nathan Colby, but that's not important right now. I want to read to you a little something. It's the grade that some ass in The Domino News wrote about us, _Grade: D-_ Let me ask you all something, do any of you believe that we are a _D- _ball club?"

The group shook their heads in a no. "Good. That's the first step in finding our team, believing in ourselves. I'm glad to see that you all have some degree of confidence. A lot of people say we can't do it. Oh, he's too young to be a coach. They don't have any talent! Their schedule's too hard, the whole nine yards! I'm telling you, about 99.9 of the people in this town _don't_ believe we can win. I say, TO HELL WITH EM! As long as you and I are in that 0.1, as long as we believe in our system, in our way of doing things, in our teammates, in accountability, then we can achieve anything. Now…we're gonna work now…lets scrimmage!"

With that, Nathan's first practice as a head coach began. Unfortunately…it began without one of his star players.

**Next Time: Our talk about "practice" continues…with some interesting results. Seto, struggling with his newfound emotions, finally shows up. And what about Ishizu? Will she be able to escape from her captor? And who exactly is the Chancellor? **

**Until Next time….**

**BIGLOS….OUT! **


	5. Finding a Team, Part III

A/N: What's up peeps? I'm kinda amazed that people have actually enjoyed this fic so far, to be honest I was expecting people to trash it because it has a lot to do with basketball, but for the most part that appears not to be the case. Now, to the reviewers:

**Egyptian Rose:** Thanks for your reviews. Gambling conspiracy, indeed! But…is that the only thing that they are using the money for? I dunno...just something to think about I guess.

**Autumn Oak: **You're welcome for the review on "Blind Sky", and thanks for reading this fic. That was the main objective: to make this fic readable for someone who doesn't know a lick about basketball…and I think this one may get better as I progress.

**Snow Weaver**: I don't know why I thought you wouldn't like the pairings…in any event thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!

**Chii576: **Glad you like the story…keep reading!!!

**Anime-Ruthless V.1: **Thanks for your reviews as before, Seto Kaiba has a HUGE role in this team's success, but no one man is more important than the team…oh and that team unity…its about to be severely tested! Also, beware; more stupid sports quotes may be made fun of in later chapters!

Now, there's no shameless self promotion in this chapter, so I guess we can get…

**Jimmy**: STOP! You have to introduce me! I'm important too!

**BigLos**: (rolling his eyes) All right, I'll introduce you…you are kinda important to the story.

**Jimmy**: YAY!

**BigLos**: Jimmy Garnet is the play-by-play voice of the Domino City University Saints, and he will be describing what's going on for you during the basketball games. He'll be an important voice in the story later on…

**Jimmy: **That's right!

**BigLos: Shut up!!!!!**

**Jimmy: **(cringing in fear) OK…

Well…now that that little introduction is out of the way…lets get back to the fanfic!

Chapter Four: Finding a Team: Part III

Seto could barely concentrate as he tried to help his brother Mokuba with his calculus homework. Mokuba, who was a senior in high school, was planning to follow in his brother's footsteps and attend Domino University after high school.

"Seto, are you alright man? You haven't said a thing since we started looking over this crap!" Mokuba, who had grown to be quite close to Seto's height, gazed curiously over at his older brother. "Is there a problem?"

"No problems, Mokuba….you forgot to multiply there." Seto pointed out a mistake on Mokuba's paper, which he quickly corrected.

"I don't know Seto…you haven't been your usual self the past few days. I know you're thinking about something. Well, what is it?"

"It's none of your business. I don't think you would understand anyway." Seto chose not to look in Mokuba's direction. All he could think about was _her._ What she had said to him…

_Maybe you should consider not being the meanest person on the planet…_

"SETO! Hello? Anybody up there?" Mokuba snapped Seto out of his daze. "Don't you have practice at six?

"Yes. What makes you bring that up?"

"It's almost seven."

Seto glanced at his watch. _Damn, I didn't realize I had been helping him for this long! I guess I should head over to the gym. _Seto grabbed his practice uniform and ran out of the door. Mokuba, feeling relief, decided to put away his unfinished homework.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT KID!! I want that work done by the time I get back here, got it?" Mokuba sighed, and nodded his head.

"And don't you even think about bringing Rebecca over…you know how I feel about you two." Seto attempted to give Mokuba his ultra-stern big brother look.

"Ok, Ok! Just get your butt to practice already! You know you'll probably running wind sprints forever for being so late anyway."

"Whatever. Remember what I said…." Seto closed the door and ran out the apartment. Seto and Mokuba were adopted when they were younger by a wealthy businessman from Domino City. He demanded excellence in everything…including athletics. He pushed Seto hard, sometimes beating Kaiba senseless for the slightest mistake in basketball practice. Sometimes the punishments were so severe that Seto couldn't even go to school the next day. Even to this very day, Seto still has nightmares about the cruelties that his step-father committed against him and his younger brother. And to this day, Seto still hasn't forgiven him.

Meanwhile:

Domino City University:

Nathan had been watching his team practice for nearly an hour, analyzing each and every player on the team. He had found some rather suprising freshman talent. Duke Devlin, whom everyone crowed the team's "class clown", was very strong on defense. Another freshman, Mako Tsunami, gave them some more of an inside game to work with. He was strong and agile, and could make the difficult shots. Unfotunately…he found some faults too.

"BAKURA! Come here! Flowers, get in there and take his spot!" Another freshman, who stood about 5'9'' with reddish-brown hair took Bakura's spot.

"What do you want?" Bakura asked, very irritated.

"Define motion, Bakura."

"I think it's the act of changing place or position of a particular body, sir."

"OK. Now, when a team runs a motion offense, the players should constantly be in motion, right?"

"I guess so..." Bakura said, obviously not caring.

"THEN WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE! MOVE AROUND DAMMIT! That's the only way the motion offense is going to work, if EVERYONE moves! A team's not four players, its five! Understand?" Nathan glared at him with dark-green eyes, just waiting for some random act of insolence.

"Yes, sir." Bakura said, his eyes looking at the floor.

"Good, now sit down." Bakura went over to the bench as everyone else carried on with practice. Just then someone came into the gym, his practice uniform on.

"You must be Kaiba….Get over here and see me for a minute. Joey! You too! Malik, you get in there for Joey."

Joey ran over and saw Seto standing by their coach, and was almost immediately confused.

Nathan blew his whistle and told the team to stop. "Free throw practice, guys. You have to make 100 as a group. You miss a free throw, you run a lap, got it?"

The boys all groaned at this proposition, but knew they really didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Hey, how come Kaiba and Joey don't have to shoot?" Duke piped up.

"Because I have something to talk to them about, now shut up and get to shooting. Tristan, line 'em up!"

As Tristan lined up the remaining players for free throw practice, Nathan turned his attention back to Seto and Joey.

"First of all, Seto you're suspended for the first game. You come to another practice this late again and I'll suspend you for two games. You keep it up, I'll cut you."

Seto was not very happy about with this news, but decided to inform his coach of something that he had been able to get all of his coaches to understand and accept. "Coach, I can explain what happened, you see my bro-"

"I don't care." He turned his attention to Joey. "And _you _Mr. Wheeler, how many practices and games are you going to miss this year?"

Joey started to get nervous. "I didn't plan on missing any games dis year, coach."

"How many times did you plan to quit on your teammates? Three? Four? Five maybe?" Nathan's glare was staring a hole into Joey, and there was no where for poor Joey to hide.

"_Answer me, Wheeler_."

Joey swallowed hard before he spoke. "I'm not gonna do dat again this year."

"Good." Nathan pulled out two pieces of paper, giving one to Joey, the other to Kaiba. "I spoke to the director at Alexander Hall earlier today; he decided to grant me a request….you two are going to be roommates."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" Joey and Seto were livid. The two polar opposites now had to live together.

"And if either one of you lays a hand on the other…if one blow is struck between the two of you, I'll cut both of you and not give it a second thought. Your team needs your talent and leadership, but they don't need the baggage that you two bring game in and game out! Is this clear?"

Both boys were slow to respond.

Joey didn't care much for the idea of Seto being his roommate, but decided that if it was good for the team he would go through with it. "Yes, sir."

Kaiba, on the other hand, wanted no part of it. First of all, this guy comes in here and makes all of these assumptions about me_. He thinks I actually want to play this game, hell I could care less. To be honest, I'm only doing it because Mokuba promised me he would keep his grades up if we had a chance to play college basketball together. And as far as rooming with Wheeler goes, it'll be a cold day in hell before anything of the sort occurs. Screw this. _"Go to hell…I quit."

By now, the entire team was watching the scene going on in front of them.

"KAIBA! Don't do this! Just calm down a minute and…" Yami was trying to get Seto to reconsider, but the elder Kaiba brother would have none of it.

"Can it, Yami!" Seto said as he walked out of the arena.

Tristan decided to go after him but Nathan held him back. "No. He's gotta figure out if he wants to play on this team. By himself. Let him go." Tristan nodded in understanding.

Nathan sighed and turned to the rest of his players. "Why is everyone standing around? You still have 34 free throws to make, get back to practice!"

Everyone, willing or not, got back in line and continued the drill as Nathan and Tristan looked on.

_He probably doesn't realize it, but I already know what Seto's been through. I can't relate to him as far as being adopted, being raised by a cruel step-father who didn't seem to care about him at all, working as hard as you could to raise your brother, doing all of this before you're twenty-one. It's amazing to me that anyone that young could be so mature, yet so cold and foolish. However, I can relate to him in one area. Seto…you have to realize that broken home or not, rich or poor, white or black or whatever race, religion, or creed…you're going to have your back against the wall a lot in life…you better get used to it. I tested you Seto…and you failed. _

Nathan looked on as his team finally finished the drill and Tristan dismissed them.

Seto walked down the street, his eyes downcast as he walked the campus streets. _I just couldn't do that anymore…taking crap from coaches like that. If I wanted to be treated like a rented mule again, I'd dig Gozaburo out of his grave…old bastard. _

Just then Kaiba bumped into someone…knocking the person over. He stopped, and decided to actually help the person up. _Great, her again! Just what I needed to see right now! _Seto sarcastically lamented to himself as he saw Serenity. She was wearing a light pink skirt with a matching top and heels, and her now shoulder-length hair flew lightly behind her as a slight breeze came.

"Seto, doing something nice?" Serenity looked up at Seto, his blue eyes almost unresponsive to her. "The world must be coming to an end!" She giggled, but realized that Seto wasn't amused, and stopped. He still had a hold of her hand from helping her up, and was refusing to let go.

"If you prefer, I can let you get back on the ground…would you like that?" Serenity was stunned by what she saw next. Seto _smiled_ at her. Not that cocky sneer that she had come to know and hate, not a smile of sarcasm, but an honest to goodness smile.

"No…this is fine." Serenity said as she smiled back at him. "Seto would you walk me to my dorm? It's dark as you can see, and Joey always complains if I walk alone."

Seto looked at his watch. It was about 7:30, so Mokuba had probably already broken every rule he had laid down before he had left, including bringing over Rebecca Hawkins for dinner. _Humph! I guess tonight is your lucky night Mokuba…_

"Sure..I have time to spare."

Serenity smiled again as she and Seto began to walk down the street together, hand in hand.

_Maybe he's not so mean and stuck-up after all…_

Meanwhile:

Stafford Hall

"Shadi, _YOU!? _Why on earth would you do this?" Ishizu asked as her captor kept her pinned to the wall.

"One word Ishizu…greed." Shadi turned her around so that she was face first against the wall. "However, that is not what's important right now. What is important is that word of this doesn't leak out to the general public….agreed?"

"NO! You have to stop this! The boys, Tristan, Nathan, they're all innocent! If you carry out this plan, all of them will be tarnished forever!"

"Ishizu…I don't want to do this…but if word of this incident comes out, which it won't…I'll see to it personally that your life becomes a living hell...and Malik's as well."

Ishizu felt numb at the moment. Shadi had taken over as Chanchellor of the University shortly after Yugi and Yami's grandfather, Solomon, had decided to retire. She had always considered him to be trustworthy…moreover she considered him to be one of her best friends.

"Alright…let me go…and I'll keep quiet. Just leave Malik out of this."

Ishisu felt Shadi run a finger along her neck and upper back. She could only imagine the sick thoughts running through his mind. "Good…I'm glad we've come to his understanding." Suddenly Ishizu felt herself being turned around again by Shadi's fierce grip.

"Remember…this conversation…everything you managed to overhear…it stays here. If not…I'll take out my vengeance on Malik!"

**Next Time: Ishizu struggles as she decides whether to risk losing her brother to let the truth be told, Seto gets a pep talk from an old friend, the starting lineup is revealed, sending a few tremors through the squad, and Nathan looks back on his life as he prepares for his coaching debut against Duke University! **

**Just a quick little something before I go, I've been trying to come up with a name for the Domino City, teams arena….if you have an idea for a name, please leave it in the reviews. If I choose yours, you get all the credit. Got it? Good. Now until next time….**

**BIGLOS..OUT! **


	6. Seto's Resolution, Nathan's Way

A/N: What's up peeps? Here is yet another chappie for y'all (translation: you guys). I hear it's going to be severely cold around the northeastern U.S. for the next few days so if you're in that area, be safe (I don't have anything to worry about, it never gets below 20 here in Louisiana!). Anyway, I want to take a sec to thank all of those who have taken time to review thus far:

_**Egyptian Rose (thanks for your continuing support)**_

_**Anime-Ruthless V1: (good luck to your Eagles in the Super Bowl…they're going to need every bit of it.. and you probably may win the Arena Name contest because no one has put in anything else)**_

_**Snow Weaver: (I appreciate the review, I hope you enjoy the rest of this fic.)**_

_**Chii576: (Hope you enjoy, you've missed a couple of chapters.)**_

_**RoseGoddess874: (Much love for your review.)**_

_**Zelda-Jewel: (You're one of my favorite authors on this site and I enjoy a lot of your work. UPDATE "MY WAY" SOON!!!!)**_

_**Autumn Oak: (I appreciate you're review, but please don't waste too much time reading this…you've gotta update Blind Sky!!!)**_

_**Shyly in the dark: (No apologies needed, you certainly weren't a bother to me. I appreciate your review and will be looking for that update..)**_

Also…this fic mourns the passing of a comedic legend, Johnny Carson. I'm not old enough to remember him from his TV days, but through clips of footage that I was fortunate to view and the stories my mom and dad would share about him, I was able to capture a glimpse of who he was and what he meant to so many people across the country and globe. Rest in Peace Johnny…

Well, that's all for the thank you-s. No shameless self-promotion this chapter… so with out further wasted time on my part…here's the next chapter!

Chapter Five: Seto's Resolution, Nathan's Way

After Seto had taken Serenity back to her dorm, he decided to go into a restaurant on campus that was open twenty-four hours a day. He went there to think about his decision to quit the team, what it meant for him, and his growing infatuation with Serenity.

Kaiba slouched down into his seat, next to a blonde woman that he instantly recognized. "Mai…what are you doing here? I thought you would be calling the dog catcher for your mutt of a boyfriend."

"I'm eating here, thank you, and my boyfriend is _not_ a mutt, Kaiba." Mai looked over at him with a playful smile on his face. She and Kaiba had gone to a high school across town together and despite their differences (especially their opinions of one Joey Wheeler) managed to become friends.

"You could have fooled me. What are you doing these days anyway?" Seto's eyes were fixed on a piece of pepperoni pizza, which was starting to get cold.

"I've been studying here so that I can go to medical school later on. Seto…you look a little worried about something." Mai had a frown her face and her hands on her hips. "Seto…spit it out. You can't hide it from me whatever it is."

Kaiba continued to play with his now cold pizza with a fork, seemingly ignoring Mai.

"_I know you can hear me, Seto."_ Mai said, glaring at the blue eyed young man.

"Mai…I think…I think I may be in love." Seto kept his eyes on his food, refusing to look up at Mai.

Mai was nearly hyperventilating. "Seto Kaiba…_THE SETO KAIBA…_in _love?_" She burst into a giggle fit as she pictured the image of Kaiba being nice to someone, let alone in love. "I'd never thought I would see the day…who's the lucky girl Seto? I have to know!"

Kaiba gave her one of his trademark smirks. "What for, so you can blab off to the entire University about a relationship that doesn't exist? Oh wait, I forgot, you did that already back in High School!"

Mai again burst into giggles. "Come on, Seto. You still remember that? You ticked me off that day when you kept on saying how you were going to knock Joey's teeth out the next time you saw him on a basketball court!"

"Did I knock them out?" Seto asked.

"No, you didn't." Mai went back to drinking her tea, which she had made sure was extra sweet. She decided not to try to find out who exactly Seto's love interest was. If he really wanted her to know, he would simply say so.

"I also quit the basketball team here today."

Mai nearly broke the cup she was drinking out of when she slammed it onto the table.

"You did _what_? Why?"

"Two reasons mainly…our new coach is a moron from Kansas and he wanted me to room with the.."

Mai cast stern eyes on Seto, as if she knew whom he was about to refer to. "Ok. Your boyfriend Joey was my new room assignment and I wanted no part of it…I don't love basketball that much." Seto sighed as he picked up his pepsi to take a drink of it.

"Seto Kaiba, if you were a woman, I would slap some sense into you. You love this game so much…even through the bull that Gozaburo put you through, even though we lost to Yugi's school in the State Finals, even though your ankles hurt so much you could barely stand on some nights. You kept playing, and don't give me that I'm-doing-it-for-Mokuba's Sake crap excuse because deep down inside, I don't know how deep, but somewhere in that heart of yours…you want to keep playing the game that you love. And don't you _dare_ sit here and say you don't love it because I've watched you play, and believe me, no one would play with that much passion and energy if they didn't love the game."

Seto gave her a blank look as she continued. "I also never thought I would see Seto Kaiba quit at something. Back in high school, you weren't the most liked person on campus, but no one could ever call you a quitter. You gave your all at everything, especially academics and basketball. You never quit before, so why start now?"

Seto finally decided to reply to her. "Maybe you're right…"

"There's no maybe to it, I'm right about this and you know it."

Seto laughed internally at her. _You would think she's my mother the way she gets riled up sometimes._ "Fine…I'll go talk to Coach Colby."

Mai had her eyes fixed on Kaiba. "And what else?"

Seto looked at her as if she was from another planet. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going to apologize to the team? I'll bet my life that it's them you let down the most by quitting than the coach."

"Humph! I don't think I owe it to the freshman, but I probably owe it at least to Yugi, Yami, and even the mutt." He smirked at her with the last part, knowing it would probably bring her wrath down upon him.

"STOP CALLING JOEY THAT!" Mai wailed as she hit Kaiba hard on his shoulder with a small fist.

Ouch! For a woman Mai can hit pretty hard. Maybe I should stop referring to Wheeler as the "mutt" around her.

"Whatever, I gotta go." Seto dropped change for the tip on the table and prepared to walk out before Mai called for him.

"Tell Mokuba I said hello, won't you?" Seto nodded his head and walked out into the cool autumn night.

**A week later:**

Nathan was looking over some old newspaper articles in his office. They were mainly some of his highlights back in high school and college. Most of them he looked back on had fond memories for him such as championships, milestones, and the like. But one clipping from nearly a decade ago he held for another reason, to motivate.

Duke wins National Title Over Kansas, 65-63 Colby's shot falls short as time expires 

This caption was above a picture of him on the floor bawling, unable to rise to his feet. It was a day he wanted to forget, but would be cursed to remember.

Flashback 

**1997 National Championship Game**

**Duke vs. Kansas**

10 seconds remaining as the Kansas Jayhawks push the ball into the frontcourt, they trail by two.

The coach had trusted him with the ball, an entire team's national title dreams with it.

Colby dribbles, gets out of a double team, and passes the ball to Rodriguez.

It was the situation he had worked hard so hard to be in. Countless hours of practice in the gym. Countless games between friends on the sand-made courts of his hometown. Countless injuries that pushed his mental toughness to the limit, all for this chance, this moment.

Rodriguez gets the ball back to Colby. Colby pump fakes, shoots….NO GOOD! Rebound goes to Duke…THAT'S IT! DUKE HAS WON THE NATIONAL TITLE!!!! Colby, who has been so reliable in this situation in the past can't come through on this day, and the Blue Devils beat the Jayhawks 65-63. What a game this has been!

Nathan fell to the floor, pounding on it with his fists, tears welling up in his eyes. He thought he heard a fight song playing. He thought he heard the cheers of the Duke fans and players. He thought he heard some of his friends trying to help him up, saying that everything would be fine…it was just a game.

Nathan knew however, with that missed shot he would never get another chance. It was his senior season, and with that cruel ending, his moment was gone…. The one moment he worked so hard to have was taken from him so mercilessly.

**End of flashback.**

Just then, Nathan heard a knock on his door.

"Come in. Oh, so it's you, Kaiba?" Nathan put down the articles he was reading over and stat down at his desk. "I thought you quit the team. You shouldn't have any more business with me, should you?"

"Actually, I do. I want to come back. I realize now that I've made a mistake…and I want a chance to correct it." Seto had taken a seat near Nathan's desk, and was looking him directly in the eyes.

"Alright. Against my better judgment, I'll let you back on the squad, under three conditions."

"Which are?" Kaiba was starting to get a little worried.

"You serve a three-game suspension instead of one."

Kaiba balked at his coach. "THREE GAMES? The original suspension was ONE!"

Nathan smiled. "I know, but I have to take into account that you disrupted a team practice, told me to go to hell, then quit on your teammates. So I tacked on a couple of extra games, sue me."

Humph! Doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.

"Alright, what are the other two conditions."?

"You move into the room I assigned you immediately. Don't worry about your brother, he can move in as well."

Great! I have to room with that idiot Wheeler…oh well…Wait a second! How does he know who the hell my brother is?

"You know about my brother?"

"Yes…Tristan told me about your past last week before our first practice. I know all about your…situation."

"Seriously…you expect me to room with that mutt?"

Nathan looked up from something that he had been writing and glared with an intensity Kaiba had never seen before.

"That mutt, as you call him, is a human being and happens to be named Joey Wheeler. If you don't want to address him by his given name, get the hell out of my office."

Kaiba clenched his fist, all but ready to start a fistfight with his coach, but something was holding him back.

"Ok…I'll room with _Joey_. What's the third condition?"

"You work your way back up the depth chart. You start at the bottom of the barrel. Fine?"

"Fine." Seto was not happy about losing his starting job, but decided to accept things as they were…for now.

"Good. The depth chart and starting lineup has been posted online…you can look at it on our website." Nathan extended his hand to Kaiba, but it wasn't reciprocated.

"Remember this Seto, you only have one opportunity to get this right…not everyone gets a second chance to make amends."

Seto merely grunted at this, and walked out of the office.

Believe me Seto…I know what its like to live with something you can't change…don't screw up this opportunity I'm giving you.

**Domino City Computer** **Lab: **

Yugi, Yami and the rest of the team were huddled around a computer screen as they decided to look up their depth chart together.

_**First Team:**_

_**Shooting Guard: Yami Mutou**_

_**Point Guard: Yugi Mutou**_

_**Third Guard: Duke Devlin**_

_**Power Forward: Mako Tsunami**_

_**Small Forward: Malik Ishtar**_

"YES! Start printing out those Duke Devlin posters, Ladies and Gentleman! I have arrived!" Duke proclaimed as he saw he was starting.

"Do you ever shut up, man?" Malik said laughing at his new teammate. "You haven't played a game of college basketball yet, and you already think you're the greatest of all time!"

"Our coach is playing a three guard set…interesting." Yugi said as he scrolled down the

rest of the depth chart."

**_Second Team_**:

Shooting Guard: Bakura Lloreda Point Guard: Timmy Flowers 

_**Third Guard: Joseph Wheeler**_

_**Power Forward: Jacob Chang**_

_**Small Forward: Justin Fairchild**_

"More bullshit…" Bakura lamented as he looked at the depth chart. "I should be starting, not that wannabe Yami over there."

"Bakura, stop wastin ya breath, you know this thing is pretty much set in stone." Joey said as Bakura turned his back to the team in a huff.

"Hold on here shipmates…look in the reserves….look who's name is still there!" Mako looked at the screen with eyes the size of saucers.

"Kaiba? But…that's a misprint or something, he quit last week!" Yugi said as he looked over the reserve list.

"That doesn't make any sense…why would his name be on the list if he isn't on the team?" A lanky young man by the name of Jacob asked.

"Because…I'm back..and this time to stay."

"KAIBA!" The entire team turned to see Seto Kaiba, trenchcoat and all, standing before them.

"I suggest that you boys stop staring at that depth chart as if it were some woman and prepare yourselves for Duke." With that, Kaiba turned to leave, heading back to his apartment to pack his things.

"Wait a second…if Kaiba's back on da team…den dat means…." Joey fainted as he came to the realization that Seto Kaiba was going to be his roommate….and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

**Next time: The team travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium to battle the Duke Blue Devils in their first game of the season! Can the Saints pull the upset, or will Duke prove too much to handle? Also…Ishizu decides to find an old friend to help her..but will he be willing to help when he finds out her situation? **

**About Bakura's name…I decided to give Ryou and Bakura the last name Lloreda…don't worry…It's just a name, people. Also…All you Anzu/Tea lovers get ready, she'll be in the next chapter!**

**Tea Lover #1: YAY! SHE'S FINALLY GOING TO BE IN THIS FIC!**

**Tea Lover #2: I can hardly wait!**

**Also, it's not too late to put up your name for the Domino City team's arena, so feel free to give me suggestion if you are so moved.**

**Until next time: **

**  
BIGLOS OUT!**


	7. DCU at Duke, Battle with the Cameron Cra...

**A/N: What's up peeps? I'm not going to waste much time here, I've got a lot of writing to do!! Before I get going, here's a few thank you-s:**

**Anime ruthless V1: Thanks again for you reviews, I appreciate them a lot. Yes, the Dukies will be out in full force, so expect a serious blowout…or not.**

**Shyly in the dark: I appreciate your reviews, and I'm very glad you like the fic. No need to be jealous, your work is pretty good in its own right. Again, thanks.**

**Snow Weaver: Thanks for you review, I'm happy you like it so far.**

**Telecoi: Thanks for the compliments; I just wanted to do something out of the ordinary by YGO fic standards I guess.**

**Tsuzuki2001: Thanks…I was worried that people who really didn't care much for sports wouldn't enjoy this fic, but I think I've done a decent job to make it about more than the game itself.**

**Chii576: Glad you like this fic so much; I guess this update is what you were waiting for!**

**Egyptian Rose: I'm currently not enrolled, but I know what its like to be a sick **

**College student, so get well soon!! In any event, Seto and Joey will get along…for now. **

**Rocker Baby 176: Thanks a bunch for the e-mail review you sent, sorry about your computer troubles. I'll probably be checking out your other fics over the weekend. YES! Tea Fans UNITE!!! (Did I just say that?)**

**No shameless self promotion this chapter either, just a couple of announcements at the end of the chapter. PLEASE READ THEM! Thank you. Well, here's the next chapter…Enjoy!**

**Silly quote of the day: "Am I emotional? You're damn right I'm emotional! I apologize." Jim Mora, Sr., former football coach**

Chapter Six: DCU at Duke, Battle with the Cameron Crazies, Part I

_Each year, over three hundred teams set out on a journey down "the road", their destination: The Final Four. On this path, heroes are made and legacies are written. Dreams become reality, and the impossible becomes possible. For some, the journey seems effortless, for others it can be painful and difficult. On this journey, legends will be humbled, and virtual unknowns will become part of basketball lore for ages to come. As time goes by, the names change, the places change. Only one thing remains constant: the road. In March, the sixty-five teams who survive the rigors of the journey will meet on basketball courts across this nation until only four remain. Those four, the Final Four, will meet in Anaheim, California to decide a champion. The road calls out to all who heed it beckoning cry…but in the end, only one team will complete the journey…_

As ordered by their coach, Seto and Joey were moving into an on-campus apartment together. There was room enough for both themselves and Kaiba's younger brother, Mokuba. For a few days, the two older boys seldom spoke to one another. Late one night…Seto was typing in his journals, which like everything else of importance to him, he kept on his laptop.

_This stupid mutt is really starting to get on my nerves! All he does is eat, sleep, then get up and eat again! Oh well, at least SHE hasn't come over yet. I don't know if I can handle both Wheelers at the same time. On second thought…maybe his sister isn't so bad. She has actually been decent to me, unlike most of the people around here. It doesn't hurt that she's rather attractive as well…_

Seto stopped his typing as he heard Joey come in. When Joey walked into their living room, he merely shook his head as he saw Kaiba typing on his computer. _Dat Kaiba needs ta get out more. I don't think he's been anywhere besides here or class since he moved in here!_

"Hey Kaiba….ya commin to da game tomorrow? Yugi was wonderin if ya could travel wit da team."

Seto quickly moved what he was typing out of sight as Joey approached him. "Could you say that again, Wheeler, this time without the barking?" Seto sneered at Joey as he unhooked his laptop.

"Don't start with me Kaiba! I'm not havin a good day right now!" Joey said as he stared with evil intent.

"Awwwww…did the puppy eat too much at lunch today?" Seto said as packed up his briefcase and walk out of the room.

"Will you stop big bro? You don't have to be so damn mean to him." Mokuba had overheard the conversation and decided to step in before one of the two lost it.

"First of all Mokuba, I've told you before about cursing around me: _don't do it. _Secondly, why are you minding my business when you have your homework to attend to?" Kaiba's glare was fixed directly on Mokuba, who merely shrugged.

"Whatever, I've already done my homework anyway. Seto…just stop picking on Joey, please?"

At this, Kaiba simply grunted.

Joey, who by now was starting to get used to the elder Kaiba's taunts, simply went into his room and decided to get an early bedtime in. The team left for Duke University tomorrow morning, and Joey had an unusually bad habit of oversleeping, so an early bedtime made sense.

"Tomorrow, I play in da biggest game in my life in one of da most intimidatin' places to play basketball in da world… I hope I'm ready for this…" Joey looked over at a picture of himself and Mai. As teens, they had gone to different high schools. They met a little while before they graduated, and had been inseparable ever since.

"I'll try my best for you tomorrow, Mai." Joey said as he yawned nosily and prepared to go to sleep.

**The Domino Times Newspaper**

**Sports Department**

Tea walked into her boss's office. She had been working at the newspaper to earn extra money for dancing school since she had graduated from high school, all the while still going to Domino University for some classes.

"You wanted to see me Brad?" she asked, a little worried.

"I've got something for you…it's a press pass." Brad pulled a piece of paper out of his desk.

Tea rolled her eyes. "Are you sending me to another dance recital? I've done too many articles about those already!"

"Just look at the thing, you'll see what I'm sending you to." Brad said as he wrote something down on a memo pad.

Tea glanced over the paper then looked up completely shocked. "You're sending me to a basketball game? I don't know a thing about basketball?"

Brad took off his glasses and rubbed his tired brown eyes. "Sorry Tea, but I don't have anyone else. Rocky's sick right now and the new girl Jaime doesn't start until next week. There's no one else. Besides…you do travel free, stay in a hotel free, see the game free, did I mention you get 200 dollars?"

If Tea was in a cartoon, her eyes would have probably flashed dollar signs. "When do I leave?"

Brad laughed at her eagerness. He knew that Tea would do anything within reason to finance both her dancing career and education. "Tomorrow morning, seven o clock. I'll have your plane ticket for you when you leave tonight, ok?"

Tea nodded her head, and then frowned a little. "But what about the game, how do I cover it if I don't know what the hell is going on?"

"Good point. I have a friend in the radio business, a Jimmy Garnet. He'll be calling the game on Domino University's radio network tomorrow. I'll let him know that you'll be there, and he'll teach you a little about the game, alright?"

Tea nodded again. "Thanks Brad… I really needed this assignment. I lost my other part time job at the café yesterday, and haven't been able to find anything else."

"Your welcome Tea, now go home and rest up…you're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Tea gave him a hug and a quick peck on the cheek. "When you aren't barking out orders at me, you can be a pretty loveable person!"

Brad laughed and returned Tea's hug. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment!"

**Nathan's apartment: **

Nathan could feel the butterflies in his stomach as he tried to fall asleep. He was so excited about the game tomorrow, not only for himself, but his players as well. This would be, for some of them, their first game of college basketball.

_I think we're ready to go…Seto not playing will hurt, but somehow we'll have to persevere and play…_

Nathan fell asleep in his bed…dreams of making history dancing in his head.

**The Next Morning: **

Yugi and the rest of the team were boarding the bus that they would be using to get to the airport. Seeing that they would have about two hours between their arrival and their game, they were allowed to dress in their normal clothes instead of their blue and grey warm up attire.

"Joey, you actually got here before I did?"

"What's dat supposed to mean, Yug?" Joey folded his arms across his chest, slightly offended.

Yugi scratched his head and laughed it off. "Um, you were usually late last year. I remember having to call you before we left you behind a couple of times."

"Will you stop babbling and sit down Yugi? I don't have all day for you to flirt with Joey here!" A sleepy Bakura spat out towards Yugi.

"Be easy, Bakura! You'll sit down soon enough man." Duke said as he took an empty seat and lay down across it.

Nathan and Tristan were chatting outside the bus as they prepared to leave. "Is that everybody, Tristan?"

"Um…yes. That's everybody that's on our active roster."

"Good, let's go ahead and…" Nathan looked over across the parking lot as he saw someone arriving at the last minute. He was wearing a black dress shirt with black slacks, with a golden buckle with the letters "K C" on them.

"Seto…what are you doing here? Last I checked, you're still suspended." Tristan asked, a little confused.

"I'm aware of that…Coach Colby; I would like to travel with the team until my suspension is finished. I think that if I did that, it would give me a chance to make up for what I've done.

Nathan gave the situation some thought. "Seto…my coach at Kansas, Mr. Mark Hadley, had a rule that said suspended players couldn't travel with the team. I found that out first hand several times."

Seto had his eyes locked on his coach, waiting on his ruling.

"Personally…I thought that rule sucked." Nathan smiled slightly. "Get on the bus, Kaiba."

Kaiba didn't smile, or laugh, or show any emotion. He simply bowed slightly and thanked him, then joined his teammates on the bus.

"You think this we'll be good for him, Coach Colby?"

"I hope so Tristan, I hope so."

**Ishizu's apartment: **

Ishizu heard a knock at her door from her bedroom and hurriedly jumped out of it to answer it. She had called someone to help her in her current situation with the board, hoping that they could be of some assistance.

She smiled as she saw the man who stood before her. "Hello, Odeon. I'm happy that you were able to come on such short notice."

"It's good to see you again, Miss Ishizu. How can I help you?"

**Several hours later:   
Cameron Indoor Stadium **

"Good evening, Saints fans! I'm Jimmy Garnet and welcome to the first game of the 2005-2006 basketball season, live from Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Duke University Blue Devils host the Domino City University Saints. Today, and new era begins for Domino University begins as Nathan Colby takes over the Domino basketball program. This program has been riddled by injuries, transfers, and losing for nearly twenty years, but Colby has vowed to build a winner. His daunting task will begin here, with one of the game's premier coaches (future hall of fame member Mike Havlicek) in his way. The Saints are undersized and are heavy underdogs to the Blue Devils, but they have practiced hard and will almost certainly pull out all the stops to pull off what would be the biggest win in school history. I'm not giving you a guarantee that Domino will win today, but I do guarantee this: The longer the Saints are in this game, the more afraid the Duke Blue Devils and their faithful should be. We'll be back with the starting line ups and the tip-off after this commercial break; you're listening to the Domino City Radio Network."

**Next time: The Blue Devils and Saints clash in a game of basketball that's sure to be interesting! Also, Tea catches the eyes of one of the players (It's not who you think it is…that's all I'll say on that.) as she writes her article. Ishizu tells Odeon of her troubles, but is there anything her lifelong friend can do to to help?**

**OK, I'm getting sleepy here, so I'll hurry up and get these announcements done:**

**It's not too late to submit an entry in my "name the gym" contest! Winner gets a prize…well sort of.**

**I'm currently working on a sort of YGO/Sonic the hedgehog crossover, except all of the characters will be human. Be on the lookout for that I guess.**

**I'll try to update my Teen Titans and Street Fighter Fics pretty soon.**

**I want to try a CHALLENGE FIC, so you can either email me your challenge or leave it in the reviews. If it's original, if it's interesting, if it doesn't involve yaoi, I'll give it a shot!**

**Well….that's it. Finally…SLEEP!!! Until next time…**

**BigLos…out!**


	8. DCU at Duke, Battle with the Cameron Cra...

A/N: What's up people? There is no time to waste this time, so I'll immediately get to my thank-you's:

**Egyptian Rose**: Thanks for your review as always…to be perfectly honest, I myself have not played basketball in a competitive setting (i.e. club teams, high school, etc.) but I understand enough about the game so I can write about it decently enough. And of course….Joey will be Joey! LoL

**Anime Ruthless V1**: Thanks again, and I'm glad you like the play-by-play guy…I wanted to have the feel that you were actually listening to a game.

**Seto KaibaX: **Without a shadow of a doubt….the shortest review I've ever gotten. YOU SHOULD HAVE READ PAST THE FIRST CHAPTER! If you did, I apologize.

**Princess Chaos: **Actually….you should have been thanked in the last chapter…but somehow your review was erased and then came back…in any event…THANKS!

**ChaosMagicianGirl: **Without a shadow of a doubt… the longest review I've ever gotten. Passionate and a little craziness mixed in, I like that! Thanks for your review and I'll be looking for an update from you! Ahh...Seto and Joey rooming together…the possibilities!

You know…that last chapter in my opinion, its kinda one of those chapters that you know is going to suck but you have to write it so that you can get to something that is actually interesting. I don't know…in any event, here's the next chapter! ENJOY!

Random Quote: "Any day above ground is a good day." Anonymous

Chapter 7: DCU at Duke…Battle with the Cameron Crazies, Part II

Nathan walked around his team's locker room door, nervous as could be. He had experienced this as a player, a spectator, an assistant coach….but never like this. This team was totally his, and he was afraid of how they would respond. He could hear the roar of the home crowd, the fans hungry for an easy victory. He loosened his midnight blue tie a little, and tried to figure out what to say to his team as he walked in. Each player was going through their little rituals: Joey was saying his usual good luck prayer; Yami listening to some music on his headset (ALTER BRIDGE BABY!), Bakura, Duke, and Yugi were talking about strategy for the upcoming game. Nathan called for their attention, and everyone looked over his way.

"Well…here we are, men. Tonight…we have a chance to prove ourselves to the entire country, win or lose. So, I want to tell you all a little story about myself. Back when I was in Kansas, I played football for a couple of years...as something extra to pass the time I guess."

"What position?" The room turned to the voice that made this remark…all slightly surprised because he hadn't said anything the entire trip.

"Wide receiver, Seto. Well, anyway…we went up to Michigan and played them in their arena. I ran a quick slant route across the middle of the field, expecting the ball to come to me. I caught the ball well enough, but this guy jumps up and completely annihilates me. I mean, he really lit me up. Hell I could hear Coach on the sidelines: 'Oh, goodness! Shazor killed him!' "

This comment earned a few chuckles from the boys.

"The fact that I got hit wasn't important. What was important was that I was able to get up from it, shake it off, and continue to give all that I have. That's what you boys have to do tonight. You will be tested….you will be knocked down. But I'll tell you this…you get up from whatever they throw at you, I promise you'll not only have their respect, but the respect of everybody in this building when this night is over. Now…let's go out there and kick some Blue Devil ass!"

This got a huge roar from the team, and they went out for their warm ups. The crowd was very hostile, but that was to be expected for the visitors.

"Coach…are you nervous?" Tristan asked, himself feeling a little anxious.

"To be perfectly honest…yeah." Nathan breathed as he saw the home team take the court with sporadic applause. The Public Announcer directed the crowd's attention to the giant screen above the court, on it was a scene that Nathan knew too well. The crowd cheered as Nathan missed what would have been the game winning shot, and the PA guy went on talking about the championships that Duke had won since that day.

Maybe it was coincidence…maybe it was psychological warfare…maybe it was flat out meanness, but they showed the clip several times each time zooming in on Nathan as he lay on the ground. On top of that…the Duke crowd began shouting this taunt:

**COLBY CAN'T SHOOT!**

**COLBY CAN'T SHOOT!**

**COLBY CAN'T SHOOT!**

After a few minutes of this, Nathan called over the team.

"Listen to me, the crowd has this game in the wrong perspective. I'm not the one shooting the ball tonight, you men are! Play calm, play smart, play hard! Let's show these Dukies what we're all about!"

(Cue radio broadcast, Domino University fight song playing in background)

_Domino University, Defenders of the Gray and Blue_

_We will always loyal be, our hearts are loyal, true! _

_All for one and one for all, we've got the will to win for thee_

_So we'll fight, fight, fight, FIGHT! Until we gain the victory…SAINTS!_

Jimmy: "Welcome back sports fans to the Domino City Radio Network, here are the starting lineups for tonight's game: For the Duke Blue Devils: Stanley and Riddick are the guards, Benjamin and Sampratt are the forwards, the senior Rosso at center. For the Domino City Saints: The Mutou Twins, Yami and Yugi, along with the freshman Duke Devlin at the guard spots, Malik Ishtar at forward, Mako Tsunami, transfer from the University of Hawaii at the other forward position. Seto Kaiba, the usual forward, will start serving a three game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, and won't be playing this evening. Here's the tip-off….and Duke takes the tip. Stanley pushes the ball into the frontcourt, stops, and shoots and immediately makes a three pointer. Yugi inbounds the ball…ITS STOLEN! Riddick lays it in and its already 5-0 Duke on top. My goodness! Yugi passed the ball to Marik Ishtar, the freshman, and he just lost the handle on it."

"Duke with a 10-2 lead early here in the fist half, Riddick moving the ball…passes the ball on the wing to Sampratt….Sampratt finds a wide-open Rosso for an easy slam. Time called, and with 17:08 to go in the first half….Duke leads Domino University 12-2"

Nathan had seen enough, and decided to call a time out in an attempt to stop the Duke momentum. The crowd, sporting the school's blue and white colors, was incredibly loud and thirsty for more.

"What the hell is going on out here? Remember your assignments! Mako…I don't give a damn if you have to foul him all night, you've gotta keep Rosso from scoring on us like that. At least make it difficult! Now settle down, play smart, OK?"

The team nodded their heads in affirmation, and to even Nathan's surprise, hung with the Duke Blue Devils. Everything that Duke threw at them, the boys from Domino responded. They were out muscled, outmatched, but still refused to give in. The Cameron Crazies were getting silent…afraid of what they once thought was impossible…a Saints victory.

Jimmy: "Five seconds to go in the first half….Yugi dribbles, pump fakes, shoots…..GOOD! Everybody…get on the phones; call anyone who knows a damn thing about basketball because we have a good one out here in Cameron Indoor Stadium! At halftime, it's the Duke Blue Devils leading the Domino University Saints, 43-42. We'll be back with our halftime show, after this break. You're listening to the Domino City Radio Network."

Everyone was excited going into the locker room, save Seto Kaiba, and Nathan had to calm down not only his team, but himself. He was very, very proud of his team, but knew that a challenging time lay ahead of them.

"Hey…you've gotten a lot better ova da off-season, Yug!" Joey proudly proclaimed, slapping Yugi on the back.

"Yami helped me with my conditioning, and Tristan helped with my mechanics. I guess all that work has paid off so far." Yugi smiled slightly at his longtime teammate.

"Let's not get all happy yet, you guys. If you haven't noticed yet, we're still losing this thing." Duke stated as he sat down on the locker room bench, wiping some sweat from his brow.

"Devlin's right…you're still losing." The team turned to see their coach addressing them, his dark-green eyes showing no happiness or satisfaction. "We've still got a long way to go, and it's only going to get harder gentleman. You think they were pissed off when we the game started? I'll bet my last dollar that their coach is tearing into them right now, because there's no way in hell that that was their best basketball. Bakura, Joey, Timmy…you three will start the second half….I want Yugi, Yami, and Duke rested for the last few minutes. Mako..._stay out of foul trouble._ You've done a good job against Rosso so far, but expect him to come at you full blast in the second half. WE CAN WIN THIS THING….but only if we keep doing what we did in the first half. Understood?"

The team cranked out a "Yes, sir!" and headed back out to get ready for the second half, leaving only Nathan and Tristan in the locker room.

"These boys…they're playing their hearts out tonight….but I don't know how much longer we can last." Nathan said, more to himself than anything else.

(Cue radio broadcast…Domino U. theme playing)

Jimmy: Welcome back sports fans; we have a good one going here! With 6:00 left to go in the second half, Duke leading Domino University 77-69. Riddick is leading all scorers with 29 points, Yugi Mutou leading Domino with 20 of his own. Domino to inbound…they trail by eight. Wheeler brings the ball up, passes the ball to Mako down in the post (Duke Fans jumping and screaming, trying to inspire their team) Mako passes the ball to Yami. Yami drives…lays it up and IN! A foul is called as well, so Yami will go to the line with a chance for a three-point play! The foul was on Rosso, that's only his second foul. Yami steps to the free throw line…the shot is good. Duke 77-Domino 72 with 5:34 remaining in regulation…"

As hard as Yami and the rest of the team fought, that would be as close to victory as they would come on this day….Duke would close out the game scoring the final 13 points, pulling away late.

As the buzzer sounded, the two teams shook hands and went to their respective locker rooms. On his way into the tunnel, Bakura saw someone out of the corner of his eye. She was wearing a royal blue blazer, with a matching skirt. Her hair was medium length, rich brown in color. Her eyes a soft blue, fixed on the piece of paper she was scribbling on.

"You got what you need for your article, Tea?" A man in his middle 40s with grey hair and brown eyes approached her from his courtside seat.

"Yes, Mr. Garnet. I appreciate your help in putting this together." If Bakura didn't know any better, he'd thought he had seen a slight sparkle in Tea's eyes as she spoke…

"Bakura…you ok?" Yugi asked as he tried to snap Bakura out of his trance. "I'm fine. Get out of my way…." Bakura blew past Yugi in a huff, feeling something strange in his stomach.

"Guys….so we lost the game, big deal. It's a long season, and we can't afford to allow this game to curtail the rest of it. We got Kentucky coming up next, so there's no room for self-pity. Now…let's get dressed and head for the hotel."

Before the team could do anything else, Nathan turned around and spoke again. "I'm proud of the effort you boys gave tonight…real proud."

**Meanwhile, back in Domino City:**

Pegasus had been listening to the game on the radio, and was irate about the result, not for the obvious that Domino City lost, but because of something else altogether.

"And that wraps up tonight's broadcast ladies and gentlemen. Your final score, Duke University 90, Domino City University 73. We'll come to you next time from Rupp Arena in Kentucky as the Domino City Saints visit the fifth ranked team in the country, the Kentucky Wildcats. For my entire crew, I'm Jimmy Garnet. Goodnight from Cameron Indoor Stadium, you've been listening to the Domino City Radio Network."

"Damn…this Colby can coach better than I thought. We lost nearly a hundred grand tonight because Duke didn't win by more. This can't continue to happen."

Pegasus picked up his telephone and called his associates. "Weevil, round up the rest of the Board of Directors. We need to discuss these…developments."

_You're not going to ruin this for us, Colby-boy! I'll use every resource at my disposal to make your coaching life a living hell! Hahahahahaha! _

**At Ishizu's apartment: **

"So…that is how Pegasus has been stealing from the university. He's been using money set aside for the Athletic Department to gamble on basketball! This isn't good, Ishizu….not at all." Odeion rubbed his head, it had been a long trip for him to Domino City and he was pretty tired.

"That's right…Odeion…how are we going to stop them? Shadi is backing them."

Suddenly Odeion was as alert as ever. "Shadi? How can that be possible? He's a man of great integrity!"

Ishizu eyes were downcast as she whispered her reply. "Was, Odeion. Shadi _was _an honorable man, before he started doing business with that rat Pegasus. The thing that hurts me most about this is that he is using Malik to keep me from telling anyone about this."

"How so, Ishizu?"

"If I tell Coach Colby or anyone about this whole affair, he will do something horrible to Malik!" Ishizu sighed heavily. "Poor Nathan…he doesn't suspect a thing…"

"Ishizu, get some rest. We'll discuss the rest of this in the morning." Odeion got up and prepared to go into Ishizu's guest room, trying to figure out a way to help his longtime friend.

"Odeion…thanks for coming on short notice like this. I didn't know where else to turn."

Odeion nodded his head, and went to prepare himself for bed.

**Parking Lot of Cameron Indoor Stadium**:

Nathan had been fielding questions from reporters for over an hour, so the cool autumn air was a welcome reward for his patience.

_Maybe these kids have the tools after all……_

He took a stick of chewing gum from his pocket, and chewed on it as he thought of how he could make his young team better.

_Well, turnovers killed us early...we shot very poorly late in the game, and our defense was lax. The good news is all of that stuff can be corrected. Tristan and myself will have to do a better job of teaching them…that's all…_

This self-critique was cut short by a voice Nathan thought he never would have heard again.

"Still chasing that championship still, are we?"

**The team was beaten by Duke, but hope reigns supreme as they head home to prepare for Kentucky! Will Pegasus's scheme be exposed, or will the corrupt athletic director continue his evil ways? How do Ishizu and Odeion plan to espose this corruption? And who is the person calling out to Nathan? Find out NEXT TIME!**

**The fight song for Domino University is based on the Southern University fight song "O Southern", whoever wrote it gets credit for inspiring my version.**

**As always, reviews and comments are welcome, no matter how silly. (Just don't flame me, OK? That is stupid and childish.) Until next time….**

**BIGLOS…OUT!**


	9. A Hard Road

A/n: What's up people? It's been hell trying to update as of late, suffering from writer's block and trying to find a job hasn't helped the situation. In any event….here are the thank-you's for this chapter:

**Chaos Magician Girl: **Thanks a bunch for your review….and your welcome for the review for your fic. It's a shame more people haven't given it much of a chance.

**Anime-Ruthless**: Thanks as always…..don't worry, the wins will start piling up soon enough…oooh, did I just give away something? (Hey….the Eagles gave it their best shot…they came up a little short against a damn good team.)

**Shyly in the Dark**: Thanks for your review also….I've been trying to write this fic so that non-basketball fans can follow it just as easily…I appreciate the feedback.

**Egyptian Rose: **Thanks again….hey life can be complicated; you don't have to explain yourself to me! An A for the chapter...that's better than I thought!

This fic is turning out nicely as far as me actually writing it is concerned….I'm guessing it should wind up being about 25-30 chapters long. I have nothing else to ramble about…so here's the next chapter!

Random Quote: **"If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score**?" Vince Lombardi, former coach of the Green Bay Packers

Chapter 8: A Hard Road

"So, still chasing that championship, are we?"

Nathan turned around quickly at the sound of _that _voice. It was someone that he knew quite well, someone whom he shared with some of his best times, and some of his hardest. It was someone who he had loved so dearly…until the day she turned her back to him.

"It's been a long time, Jessica."

**Flashback….**

**CajunDome Lafayette, Louisiana**

**1993 Louisiana High School State Championship Final**

**Glenmora High vs. Granger Academy**

_Sexton will inbound the ball to Nathan Colby, the senior holds on to it…3, 2, 1…That's it, that's all! The Glenmora Wildcats have claimed their second state championship in three years! They beat the Granger Academy Bulldogs 77-65! It's a mob scene out here! The fans from Glenmora have rushed the court, swarming over the team! I've just received that the Most Outstanding Player Award for the tournament will go to Nathan Colby. What a night this young man had…34 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, a blocked shot, and 3 steals! This has to be such a proud moment for this kid and his family, he didn't play a game until his junior season; he didn't start until this year, his last in the Wildcat red and white. _

Nathan closed his eyes, crying as he held the game ball. Numerous emotions flooded through his young mind. First…pure joy at winning another championship to add to his growing collection. Second….a sense of pride…he knew that he had served his deceased brother's memory well with this victory. Third…a bit of sadness: some of it because that this would be his last game with his best friends, some of it lamenting his brother's untimely passing. They had asked him to speak after receiving the most outstanding player award…he only had one person on his mind.

"Big brother…the last title that we won together, we dedicated it to the people who supported us, even during the times we were terrible. Well this one…This one's for YOU!"

With the crowd roaring in approval, Nathan hoisted the championship trophy high in the air for all to see. Suddenly….a young woman with curly red hair rushed over to him and gave him the tightest hug that she could muster.

"You know how proud of you I am right now, right Nathan?" Her emerald green eyes gazed into his dark green, tear filled orbs.

"No, Jessie girl, I don't think I do."

She smiled at him, taking his joking nature into account. She pulled him close to her and gave him a passionate kiss on his lips.

"Wow…I think I know now!" Jessica giggled at her long-time boyfriend.

"I love you so much, Jessie."

"I love me too, Nathan."

"That's great….hey! You said you loved _you_, not _me_!"

Jessica couldn't help but to start laughing at him. "Don't worry, you big ditz! I love you too."

The couple kept together the rest of the night as their school celebrated yet another championship.

**End of flashback…**

**Meanwhile….in the present: **

"What do you want Jessica?" Nathan asked, a hint of coolness in his voice.

"Don't be so hostile…I just wanted to talk. And what ever happened to 'Jessie'?" She stood before him wearing a hooded green jacket and navy blue slacks.

"Why don't you tell me? You would know better than I would." Nathan retorted, a pinch of bitterness in his voice.

"You...still hate me don't you? Even after all of this time..."

"I never hated you…I just find something like what you did to me hard to accept."

"Can we forget about our past for just a moment…I want to talk to you." Jessica said blandly, as if she wasn't affected by his somewhat cruel words.

"Alright…what do you want?" Nathan asked crisply, growing tired of her games.

"Take a walk with me…"

**Meanwhile…At the hotel: **

"We should have one that game, Yug."

Joey, Yami, Yugi, and some other players were sitting at the hotel, talking about what happened in their game.

"I know Joey…but that's how the ball bounces sometimes." Yugi was eating a fruit salad, compliments of the hotel.

"Hey, no one expected us to even compete with those guys…we shouldn't be ashamed." Yami chimed in.

"The time you three waste here whining about what happened your last game, you should be concentrating on your next opponent." Seto Kaiba walked into the hotel lobby, sporting his traditional trench coat.

"Kaiba…" Yugi sighed heavily. Even though he had come back to the team, his behavior, for the most part, was the same as before: brash, rude, and aloof.

"Get da hell outta here Kaiba! We know what we gotta do to win…we beat _you _a couple of years ago, didn't we?"

Kaiba glared hard at the blond with his sapphire eyes. "That game, Wheeler, was a complete and total fluke, understand? Or do I have to translate it into puppy for you?"

"Kaiba…you no good-sonofa-"Joey had to be restrained by Duke and Malik, who had arrived while Seto and Joey were arguing.

"Calm down Joey…this isn't the time and _definitely _not the place for this?" Duke reasoned as he restrained Joey by his right arm.

"What's going on here?" A security guard had overheard the commotion and came over to investigate.

"Nothing, sir. Our friends here were just having a little argument that got out of hand. Don't worry; I think Joey's calming down." Malik said nervously.

"Let Wheeler go, then we can test that little theory that all _dogs_ go to heaven!" Kaiba had to utilize all of his coolness to keep from laughing at his teammate.

"Joey, Seto….is there a problem here?" The entire team turned around to see that their coach had returned…with a rather attractive female by his side.

The two rivals were silent. As a matter of fact, the entire lobby was silent.

"There's nothing going on, coach. Just a little frustration about the game earlier." Yami spoke up, trying to keep the situation from getting even more out of hand.

"Good answer…you boys should head up and get some rest. We have an early flight time tomorrow."

The boys all nodded, and headed to their rooms without protest and thankfully without incident.

Only Nathan and Jessica remain in the lobby now…trying to figure out what went wrong on that night over a decade ago….

**Next time: Nathan and Jessica talk about their lost love. Will they decide to make amends, or keep their relationship dead? The boys head home for to prepare for Kentucky…but when a heated practice escalates out of control, can Nathan and Tristan keep it together. Also….Yugi has a date with Tea coming up…would one of his own teammates try to take his longtime love away from him? Find out next time!**

**Sorry the chapter was so short…I just wanted to update as soon as possible. The next one will be major long!**

**BigLos…out**


	10. Yes or No?

A/N: I promise, I deliver! This will be one of my longest chapters to date! Oh, what's up peeps? I hope your Valentine's Day was a lot more memorable than mine was. It's a sad day to not be in love…in any event, here are this chapter's thank yous:

**Shyly In The Dark: **Thanks for your review, as always, and best of luck to you as you revive your fic. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Anime Ruthless: **Two little side notes I want to get out of the way: First, Terrell Owens is a MAN! Second, not so fast my friend (holding up a pencil, pointing at you) My Saints will be in Detroit next year! We've never been, SO ITS OUR TIME DAMMIT! Sorry…had to get that out. Thanks for your review, I appreciate it.

**Snow Weaver: **Glad to see you've found your way back to this story, glad you still like it! Thanks a bunch for your review.

**ThefutureMrs.Kaiba: **NEW READER! Thanks for your input, glad to have you onboard. I hope you keep reading.

**Telecoi: **Glad you enjoy it. I had to look up the definition of "vexshipping" (Bakura/Tea/Anzu pairing, in case someone reading this doesn't know) so I could know what exactly you meant. Just a quick question, who comes up with this stuff? Really? I went to this site the other day; someone had a name for every pairing possible! If you didn't know….that's a damn lot of pairings. Sorry, got a little carried away…thanks for your review.

A total oversight on my part I'm afraid:

**The Mystic Goddess: **You reviewed way back in Chapter Six…but due to an oversight on my part, you didn't receive your thank-you in chapter seven. So, THANK YOU! My fault for not getting you mentioned sooner.

Also, I have a new fic, **Angry People**, up that I'm working on, I'd appreciate it if you would take a look at it. I warn you however, it is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC and shouldn't be read by anyone under the age of 14.

Don't worry you starving fans of the Seto/Serenity pairing, more of that will come soon, but this chapter is mainly about another pairing, Yugi/Tea…..or is it? Anyway: Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!

Random Quote: "**Sports do not build character…they reveal it." **John Wooden, former UCLA basketball head coach.

Chapter 9: Yes or No?

**Flashback**

**1993, Colby Residence**

Nathan and his girlfriend Jessica were sitting around at his house watching a movie. It was only twenty-four hours after Nathan had helped lead his team to victory in the State Championship final, and everyone had one question for him afterwards: What's next?

"Um, Jessie, I have something to tell you. I've been thinking this over…I was contacted by Kansas yesterday, before the final. They want me to go play there..." Nathan shifted uncomfortably on the couch, trying to hide his nervousness.

"But… I thought we had decided to go to Louisiana State…together." Jessica looked up at her boyfriend with emerald eyes that could melt any heart with relative ease.

"Now Jessie…I never said that I was going there, I said that I would consider it. There's a difference."

"Nathan...why do you want to go there anyway? There's nothing for you in Kansas!" Jessica was standing up now, slowly but surely losing her patience.

"They….told me that I could start there my freshman year, and they offered a FULL scholarship, something Louisiana State couldn't. This is probably the best fit for me, Jessie."

Jessica put her hands on her hips. "Me, me, me! That's all I hear from you! What about _us?_ What about _our _future?" She was starting to tear up, but she had to get him to understand. She wouldn't let him slip away.

"We can still have a relationship, but I need you here with me, Nathan. That's the only way we we'll be together."

"I'll only be a few hours away Jessie, it's not like I'm going to war or anything! Please, don't be so rash about this; we can have a long distance relationship…"

"What for...so you can screw some cheerleader behind my back?" Jessica was losing her poise, and her patience.

"You've know me since kindergarten, you've dated me since junior high…I would _never _cheat on you and you know it!" Nathan was getting frustrated at his girlfriend's apparent insecurities.

"That's not the point; I need you _here, _with me."

"Jessie…_I'm going to Kansas to play basketball, I want you to support me. But know this: I'm leaving regardless of what you, or anyone else says." _Nathan had an edge to his voice, but internally wished to take the harshness back as he saw his girlfriend beginning to sob.

"I see now…this isn't about me, you, or us. This is about your brother, isn't it?" Jessica spoke each word with added venom.

"Jessie…that's not it."

"Isn't it? Ever since he died, that's all you've thought about, him and basketball! He played you for a fool for so long, filling your head with this nonsense about championships and the team. As soon as their done with you, they throw you away and go on to the next player, you know that! You're trying to live his life, and you're leaving me behind in the process!"

She ran up and latched onto him, tears and all, and refused to let him go.

"Don't do this…please, just stay here with me."

Nathan breathed deeply, preparing to say what he believed needed to be said. "Listen Jessie, I've already talked it over with my parents. I'm going to Kansas in the fall. If you agree, that's fine and good. If you don't, then…this is goodbye."

Jessie let go of him, and began to stare bitterly into his dark-green eyes. She couldn't believe what he had just done. Her boyfriend had chosen basketball, _a game,_ over her love.

"Well….this is goodbye…"

Jessie picked up her jacket, and left the room, throwing her engagement ring on the floor on her way out.

She didn't look back.

Neither did he…

**End of flashback**

**Back in the present: **

"You remember it all…don't you?" Jessica said a pang of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah…that was a tough day for us." Nathan said, avoiding eye contact.

"Well…I came here because…I want to make things right, Nathan. I still have feelings for you, even after all this time. I said some things twelve years ago that were hurtful and mean-spirited. I'm still in love with you…and I regret what happened between us. So…will you let me come back into your life?" Her voice sincere, yet desperate, Jessica pleaded her case.

"Jessie…I've been through a lot since we've last spoken. Truth be told, I still think about you sometimes. But…I need some time."

Nathan picked up his suit-jacket and prepared to head up to his room. He knew he still loved her…but would he be able to forgive?

Saints Practice

Two Days Later

"Today, we're going to work on a new play, called Three Special. It's an offense specifically designed to give us opportunities at three point shots late in the game. First Team, you'll be running the play today, second team will defend it. We'll reverse tomorrow. Understood?"

The team, in their blue and grey practice uniforms nodded, and the practice began.

After explaining the simple concept of the play, Nathan watched has his team practiced the play several times. He was impressed at the intensity that everyone brought to the practice, including the reserve players. He was not impressed by what he saw as the practice came to a close.

Yugi was dribbling the ball, setting up the Three Special play as instructed. He decided to dribble to the inside, taking the option of an easy two-pointer over the difficult three.

Yugi went up to the hoop for a routine lay-up but was met with harsh resistance from a certain albino. Bakura jumped up and knocked Yugi down, slamming the smaller boy to the hard, concrete-reinforced floor. Yami and Tristan immediately rushed over to attend to the boy, and the rest of the team huddled worriedly around one of their best players. Even Kaiba, who was exempt from practice due to his suspension but practiced anyway,

showed some degree of worry.

"Yugi, are you O.K?" Yami helped his brother up, his ability to stand up being a good sign in itself.

"I'm alright, I think I hurt my thigh, but everything else is fine." Yugi was helped over to the bench by some of the reserve players, several of whom also were team trainers.

Nathan looked on at the scene, deciding on his course of action to deal with Bakura.

I think this issue is better settled after practice…

Yugi rushed hurriedly through his shower and put on his clothing after a long, hard practice.

Nathan, who had come in to talk with some of the younger players on the team, raised an eyebrow at Yugi's odd behavior.

"I know a run a pretty hard practice, but this is ridiculous! Where are you going in such a hurry, son?"

Yugi fixed the collar on his white dress shirt. "Sorry coach, I just

have somewhere I have to be in about…" The teen glanced down quickly at his watch as he fumbled with a button on his shirt. "Ten minutes! How am I gonna get there on time, Tea's going to be really pissed!"

Nathan laughed in understanding. "A date…I get it now! Don't worry, not only will I give you a ride, but I'll explain to her why you're so late."

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks coach!"

"No problem, just wait outside and I'll be there in a second."

All the rest of the players were leaving, talking about their activities for the night. Everyone except for two people, Bakura and Seto Kaiba. Seto, as was his usual custom, stayed a little while after every practice, working hard to bring his game to perfection. Bakura on the other hand, merely sulked around the arena, waiting for it to close.

"Bakura?"

The albino turned his head slightly. "How did you know I was here?"

"It's my job to know my players' tendencies. You've come here after every practice since we've been here."

Bakura shrugged the comment off, and then proceeded to speak again. "What do you want?"

Nathan walked over to the bleachers where Bakura was sitting and sat

down beside him. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I think you have some sort of problem, Bakura. I don't know if you have some hidden animosity towards your teammates. I don't know if you're just a loner type with a short fuse. And quite frankly, I don't give a damn. If you ever pull another stunt like what you did today at practice, not only will I cut you from the team, I will personally throw you out of practice, am I clear?"

Bakura got up from his seat, a rather smug look on his face. "Clear

as crystal, sir."

"Good. As much as he hoped Bakura would listen, he had a feeling

that he didn't.

**Later that night…**

Seto Kaiba, fatigue and all, went upstairs into the apartment that he shared with his longtime rival, Joey Wheeler. As he threw down his gym bag on the floor, He decided to raid the refrigerator for dinner.

_Frozen pizza…beer…half-eaten apple pie…I've got to get a damn refrigerator of my own! Living with this mongrel will hurt my diet…_

After Kaiba had found the ingredients necessary to make a ham sandwich, he found a post-it note on the refrigerator door.

_Hey, Moneybags…_

_Me and Mai are out on a date...so you and Mokuba will probably have the place to yourselves tonight._

_Joey Wheeler. _

"Humph…so the mutt's getting laid…It's a sign of the apocalypse I'll bet." Kaiba mused to himself as he crumpled up the note and threw it into the trash can. At this moment, he heard a muffled sound coming out of his room.

_What was that? _Kaiba decided to sneak over into the room, wondering what exactly was going on. He leaned into the door, and for a few seconds heard nothing. Shortly after that, he heard one of the loudest moans of passion in recorded history. It's high-pitched voice dismissed Joey, Mai, or Mokuba from consideration. Kaiba's brow furrowed as he realized who it was.

_Rebecca…_

_  
_Without giving a second thought, Kaiba barged into the room. He saw his brother on top of the teenage Rebecca Hawkins in a rather compromising position. As the two young lovers saw the elder Kaiba in front of them, they hastily attempted to cover themselves up.

"Um…hey Seto…We weren't expecting you home for a while.." Mokuba tried to laugh it off a little, but his elder brother would have none of it.

"Mokuba…get dressed. We're going to have a long, _long _talk about this."

**Reggie's Café**

**Later that night…**

Yugi and his girlfriend Tea were eating some dinner as they caught up with each other and their different experiences. "Yugi…did I tell you that I'm covering your team for the paper now?"

Yugi looked up from his soup in surprise. "Really? When do you start?"

"Actually I already started…I was at Duke University for the game last week."

"Why didn't you tell me that you were going to be there, Tea?"

"Because…you already have enough to worry about going in there with all of those people screaming against you. You want me to go in there and give you another distraction?"

Yugi dug his free hand into a pocket as he held on to Tea's hand with his other. "You're never a distraction to me…only an inspiration."

"Wow…thanks Yugi." Tea blushed a thousand shades of red as she lost herself in Yugi's violet-colored eyes. As the two lovers continued to discuss other everyday issues, such as school work, friends, and their respective passions, Yugi waited until what he thought was the right time to give Tea a very special present. Unfortunately, that would have to wait…

"Funny…I didn't think I would run into such company here." Yugi turned around in his seat as he heard a familiar British accent resonate behind him.

"Same here…Bakura." Tea shot a death glare at the albino, sending a small chill down Yugi's spine.

_Uh-oh! I don't think I've ever seen Tea look at anyone like that…hold on a second…how does she even know who Bakura is?_

**How does Tea know Bakura, and what does he want with Yugi's girlfriend? What will Kaiba do now that he's found Mokuba making out in their home? How will these trials effect the team's chemistry as they head to Rupp Arena for Game Two of the season? Find out next time! **

**It's over, It's finished, It's done! We have a winner for the "Name that Stadium" contest that I set up a little while back: **

**Anime-Ruthless: "Domino Dome" **

**Congratulations…your prize will come in the mail…**

**Jimmy: What prize? You're too broke to be sending anybody anything! **

**BigLos: Good point..**

**Well, your prize, if you want it, is a special appearance in the fic. You can e-mail me any idea of how to include you, or just leave it in the reviews. **

**And that goes for the rest of you too! Um…I apologize, I really need to go to sleep now…Anyways, thanks for reading!**

**BigLos…out.**


	11. DCU vs Kentucky: The Bluegrass ScrewJob

A/N: What's up? Back again with more basketball/Yugioh mayhem! Replies are in order starting with…

**_Telecoi: _**Yep, Mokuba is a little out of character…but with a purpose. More on that as the fic progresses. And as far as Ryou goes…I have some plans for him, so don't worry; he'll be arriving soon. Thanks a bunch for your review!

**_ChaosMagicianGirl: _**Yup, Mokuba probably won't hear the end of it, especially from big brother! And I reviewed MMK, update it soon please? Thanks!

**_The Broken Bow: _**Hey, you changed your name! Thanks for your review, you've been there since the beginning, and I appreciate it.

**_Shylyinthedark: _**Many thanks for your reviews, not only for this, but for **_Angry People_** as well. Keep up the good work with your fic as well, I really enjoy it.

**_Anime Ruthless: _**You've been reviewing since the beginning as well, and I appreciate it. Oh, and if you want me to put you in, just e-mail me with a brief description of yourself and to what capacity would you like to be included (player, fan, coach or reporter were what I was thinking, but if you have something else in mind, let me know).

Also: thanks to **_thefutureMrsKaiba, SetoKaibaX, SnowWeaver, Princess Chaos, The Mystic Goddess, chii576, RoseGoddess87, ZeldaJewel, Rockerbaby176 and Autumn Oak. _**You've all reviewed at least once, and I appreciate it, criticisms or not.

And yet another oversight on my part: The schedule way back in the earlier chapters had the Louisville game first instead of Kentucky…I'll go back and fix this later so that Kentucky will be first, instead of Louisville. Everything else is in order. I apologize if anyone was confused. (Though I doubt anyone actually cares)

Well, here's the next chapter, ENJOY!

Yu-gi-oh: Heart of the Hoops 

_Chapter 10: DCU vs. Kentucky: "The Bluegrass Screw-Job" _

Yugi and Tea had paid for their dinner and left the café hurriedly after the emergence of Bakura, Tea not even glancing his way as they filed out.

"Tea…how do you know Bakura?" Yugi asked his sulking girlfriend.

"I don't want to talk about it, Yugi." Tea said, a sour look on her face as she walked brusquely down the sidewalk.

"But…I really think…"

"I SAID DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW! OK?" Tea's tone of voice had risen significantly, and she had drawn a lot of attention from passers-by.

"Um…o.k. We can talk about it later I guess." Yugi put his hands into his pockets, and walked down the sidewalk with the now-silent Tea.

The couple walked until they reached Tea's apartment.

"Um…Yugi…I'm sorry for yelling at you back there…I didn't mean to be so ugly about.."

Before she could finish, she found herself being pulled into a deep, loving kiss.

"I love you, Tea."

"I love you too, Yugi…. goodnight."

**Meanwhile, Back at Seto and Joey's apartment: **

Mokuba, now properly attired in his PJs, and his brother Seto sat down in their living room, an awkward silence hanging over them.

Despite his displeasure with his brother's actions, Seto had been able to remain in somewhat of a calm state of mind up to this point. How long that would last depended on what happens next.

"Mokuba…I warned you about your relationship with Rebecca. I was worried this was going to get out of hand. You both are too damn young to be having sex! Did you even use protection?" Kaiba wasn't especially angry with Mokuba, he was worried about his brother's and Rebecca's well being.

Mokuba merely waved it off. "Don't worry, Seto. We used protection, and you barged in before we could really get going anyway. It's nothing for you to be concerned with anyway, this is between me and Rebecca."

Kaiba jumped up and grabbed his little brother by the shirt. "IT'S A HELL OF A LOT FOR ME TO BE CONCERNED WITH! WHAT HAPPENS IF SHE GETS PREGNANT, OR ONE OF YOU COMES DOWN WITH SOME SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE? WHO WILL HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU? ME!"

Mokuba, who by this time was just a little smaller than Kaiba, pulled himself free of his brothers' grasp. "I'm not some little kid anymore, Seto! I'm old enough to make these decisions by myself. You're not my damn father anyway!"

Kaiba took a deep breath before he continued. "First of all, don't use swear words in my presence. I may not be your father, but I practically raised you myself. And don't forget, I'm still your legal guardian until you turn 18, so you're my responsibility until then. Now go to bed."

Mokuba stood his ground, glaring at his older brother with intense anger.

"I SAID GO TO BED GODDAMNIT!" Kaiba snapped, his patience pretty much shot to hell.

Mokuba didn't move an inch. "Make me…"

Seto couldn't believe what he was hearing. His little brother, who once idolized him, was now for all intents and purposes challenging him to a fistfight.

"Fine…have it your way." With amazing speed, Seto had managed to grab his brother by the arm and drag him into his room. In one swift motion, Kaiba managed to throw his brother on the bed and hold him there for a moment.

"Get off of me, you ass!" Mokuba yelped as he tried to break free of his attacker's grip.

"Stop cursing…and go to sleep." Kaiba's grip loosened a bit, leaving a dumbfounded and slightly embarrassed Mokuba alone in his bed.

_I don't like the direction Mokuba's heading…not one little bit. _

Lexington, Kentucky 

**Rupp Arena **

**Domino City vs. University of Kentucky**

_Domino University, Defenders of the Gray and Blue! _

_We will always cheer for thee, our hearts are loyal true!_

_All for one and one for all, we've got the will to win for thee_

_So we fight, fight, fight, fight, until we gain the victory…Saints! _

**Jimmy: **Another game, another road test for the Saints. Good evening from Lexington, Kentucky as tonight, the Domino City Saints meet the fifth ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Saints fans are optimistic after their team's impressive showing against the Duke Blue Devils, but don't expect any miracles. The Wildcats are solid at every position, and will be very difficult to take down. And the Domino Saints will have more to deal with than the Wildcat team itself. They will have to deal with Kentucky's rabid fans, and the mystique of one of the great "cathedrals" of the game of basketball. We'll be back with the starting lineups after this station break. You're listening to the Domino City Radio Network.

"Listen, guys, same situation like with Duke. We need to stay in the game early, and not make stupid mistakes! We can win this one if we play our hardest…Let's do it!"

The boys listened as their coach tried to fire them up, but in reality they needed no inspiration. They were eager to prove their near miss at Duke was not an apparition. As the Kentucky players filed into the arena, Nathan looked around at the screaming fans.

I've been here as a player, an assistant, and now a coach and I can say this with relative ease…this is probably the most intimidating place that one could imagine to play basketball. We will be tested tonight…

As the players prepared for tip-off, a lady walked over to the Saints bench. She was wearing a cream dress with blue trimming, and her black hair ran long past her shoulders.

"Good luck, coach."

Nathan spun around quickly and was immediately in a state of shock.

"Miss Ishizu, what are you doing here!"

My goodness, she looks so hot in that dress…what the hell? This isn't Love Connection, Nathan! It's a damn basketball game…CONCENTRATE!

"I'm just chaperoning a small student representation who was able to make it here…as I said…good luck." Ishizu smiled slightly and retook her seat, which was right above the scorekeeper's table.

"Coach Colby?" Nathan turned to see a middle-aged black man with graying hair approach him.

"Good luck tonight."

"Thank you, Coach Smith, same to you." The two opposing coaches shook hands and went about the rest of their preparations for the game.

**Jimmy: **"Welcome Back to the Domino City Radio Network, and here are the starting fives for both teams. For Kentucky: Craig and Horn are the guards, Baker and Chandler the forwards, and Azubuike the center. For Domino City, Devlin, Yami and Yugi are the guards, and Mako Tsunami and Malik Ishtar the forwards. And we are underway, Yugi controlling the tip for the Saints…"

Domino, to the surprise of even their supporters jumped out to an early eight-point lead early on in the first half. They executed with cool precision, and were able to contain the center Allen Azubuike, known for his high scoring marks.

"Craig bringing the ball up the floor..dribbling to his left, stolen by Yugi! Yugi pushing the ball up the court, Domino has numbers **(1)….**he passes to Mako who slams it home! The Saints are now up 36-29 as we head for halftime! I'm totally shocked, ladies and gentleman! This is incredible. We'll be back after this station break, you are listening to the Domino City Radio Network."

They had done the impossible: silence the Rupp Arena faithful. Only the small amount of students from Domino City who made the trip could be heard.

"Keep it up, Joey! I know you can do it!" Serenity yelled from the stands, cheering on her brother and his teammates.

Joey smiled her way as he made his way into the locker room for halftime…

Yami addressed the team at half, and the team listened intently.

"We're winning…and it feels pretty good. But know you this, if we don't finish the job, if we screw this up, we'll be feeling just as bad afterwards as we feel right now. So play your hearts out…and don't let up, not even for a second."

"For once…Yami's right." The team turned to another one of its leaders, Seto Kaiba.

"To be honest, I was expecting us to be embarrassed tonight, but you've shown up today. No one can fault you for your effort. But understand, it will take more than just effort. It's going to take discipline, smarts, and patience to get it done."

Nathan looked over his team, his excitement growing along with theirs. "Well…so much for coaching you guys up. You look more than ready to play the second half to me…lets close the deal!"

Domino City fought hard, but Kentucky managed to scratch and claw its way back into the game. In the waning moments of the game, however, Domino City actually led 72-70.

**Jimmy**: "Welcome back, and we have an exciting finish going on here! Here's the game reset…10.5 seconds left. Neither team has any timeouts or fouls to give. The possession arrow is with Domino City, but Kentucky has the ball with a chance to win it or take it to over time. The fans have come alive here tonight, and have really fueled the Wildcat resurgence. Some scores to pass along to you: Saffron State 49, Navy 48; Jump City leading Utah, 70-64 in the second half; and number one Illinois remains unbeaten with a 100-95 double-overtime thriller over Louisville."

Nathan had stressed to his team to force Kentucky into a poor shot as best as they could; he would take his chances with a terrible three-point opportunity instead of giving up the easy two.

"Craig receives the inbound pass from Chandler, dribbles the ball in isolation. Seven seconds remaining, now six…he dribbles, passes to Horn in the corner…Horn shoots…NO GOOD! But….OH…MY…GOD! They called a foul on Malik Ishtar for illegal contact. And Nathan Colby does not look happy about it in the least.

The "foul" took place right in front of Nathan, and he saw very clearly that there was no illegal contact involved. As a matter of fact, despite the euphoria that had taken over in Rupp Arena, most of those in attendance would probably come to the same conclusion after an instant replay.

"Colby is irate, he has run out onto the floor, screaming at the officials! Dammit, they just gave him a Technical Foul (2). Nathan get off the floor, this isn't helping your cause! He's going to get tossed here in a second if the doesn't settle down!"

Tristan attempted to restrain his boss, but was shot a death glare. He backed away in defeat, realizing that it would not be in his best interests to interfere.

"He's not leaving…and there it is. A second Technical Foul is called, and Colby will be ejected from the arena. Unbelievable what has taken place here. Domino City's lead is in dire straights here…Kentucky will shoot _seven free throws, _four of those due to the two technical fouls called on coach Nathan Colby, and three for the so-called foul that was committed on Anthony Horn. Even if they do survive that, Kentucky will retain possession of the basketball because of the technical fouls with 3.9 seconds remaining. We'll take a timeout, you're listening to the Domino City Radio Network."

**Next time: With this controversial finish, how will Nathan's team respond? Can they pull it together for a miracle finish, or will Kentucky steal one? Speaking of stealing, how is Pegasus's gambling ring planning on avoiding more losses of their funds? How will this game affect their fortunes? Also…Seto Kaiba has some _serious_** **explaining to do after an incident in his apartment…How will Mokuba feel about what goes down…more importantly how will _Joey_ react? All the answers will be given out next time! **

Sorry for the ending…I had to do it! It makes when things get better so much more fun!

Having numbers simply means that on a fast break, the offense has more people on that end of the floor than the defense.

A technical foul is something like a yellow card in soccer: get two of them, you leave the game. Foul shots are awarded to the other team for the technical foul, as well as being awarded possession of the basketball.

Well, please review and take care of yourselves…oh I almost forgot the quote!

"**We didn't lose the game, we just ran out of time." **Vince Lombardi

BigLos…out


	12. Aftermath and Consequence

A/N: What's up people? Not a lot of time to waste, so I'll get straight to my thank-you's:

**Snow Weaver: **Your reviews are much appreciated, and it's no big deal that you forgot about the fic…heck sometimes I forget I write the thing! But thanks especially for your review of "Angry People", which I shall continue!

**Wolffie: **Fear not….Anzu/Tea can be found starting in chapter 7. I promise more Anzu/Tea goodness in the future!

**Shylyinthedark: **Thanks again…You can be assured that I will keep up the good work, and I will try to update Angry People ASAP.

**Telecoi: **:frowns: Sorry about the cliffie…It's necessary! Glad you like the fic!

**RoseGoddess874: **Glad you think it's interesting…enjoy the update! And I will check out some of your work ASAP, so be looking for a review or two around Wednesday possibly.

**Anime-Ruthless: **Yep…seven free throws…that's one hell of a blow to overcome. But there is something I want you to keep in mind (you may catch this specific detail in particular before any other readers do): I'll be paying a little homage to one of my favorite coaches of all time this chapter. Can you tell me who it is? Thanks for your review!

**The Broken Bow: **Yes, ONLY I KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN:sweat drops: Umm…nevermind. As far as Tea's relationship with Bakura…that will be revealed probably in the next chapter.

Oh, and all you romance lovers: HANG IN THERE! There will be some of that coming up in the later chapters...Especially Seto/Serenity and Yugi/Tea.

Now that all that has been said…lets get on to the next chapter!

Quote: "If you're going to make every game a matter of life or death, you're going to have a lot of problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot." **_Dean Smith, former North Carolina Basketball Coach _**

Chapter 11: Aftermath and Consequence

Nathan stormed out of Rupp Arena in a very angry fashion. He could not believe what was happening. He could accept just losing, simply being the weaker team. But being cheated this way, having someone other than the players and coaches determining the outcome, to him that was just plain wrong…and on his way out he let everyone know how strongly he felt.

Jimmy: "Azubukie steps to the free throw line to shoot the technicals….what the hell? Nathan Colby just threw a chair onto the floor! This is just getting ridiculous! First the temper tantrum after the questionable call near the end of this great game, then the ejection, and now _this? _I smell a fine or a suspension coming on for this, maybe both!"

In his mind, Nathan had not seen exactly what he had done yet. He was still in a blind rage. His bitterness kept him from knowing the extent of the actions he had just taken. He cursed and kicked his way back to the visitors locker room, where he continued to take out his frustrations upon various objects.

"Nathan…what the hell just happened out there?" Ishizu walked in the locker room, closing the door behind her.

"Now is not a really good time…"

"I don't care! You being a coach should know that behaving like a bona-fide jackass doesn't change things that happen! Do you have any idea of what Pegasus will do with you? He's probably salivating at the chance to get rid of you right now!"

"Miss Ishizu….please leave me alone right now, this is _not_ the time." Nathan still had his back turned to Ishizu, his voice dangerously low.

"Yes, it is. You really need to listen to me...I think…"

"GET THE HELL OUT! NOW!" Nathan turned and faced Ishizu with a look on his face that ranged somewhere between extremely angry and possibly insane.

Ishizu had jumped back slightly at the tone of his voice, then took a few moments to recollect herself. For a moment, she actually feared for her own life. "Fine…I'll probably inform you of your punishment in the next 24 hours."

With that, Ishizu stormed out of the locker room, slamming the door behind her.

_Shit! _

**Meanwhile, Back at the game: **

Jimmy: "Yugi's desperation three-ball was good, but that's pretty much irrelevant. The Kentucky Wildcats still manage to escape with a highly controversial 76-75 victory over the Domino City Saints…we'll be back with the post-game show after this brief station break."

The Domino City players walked back into their locker room in stunned silence. Even the usually good-natured Yugi was feeling down.

The team dressed without saying a word to each other. Everyone went about his own business. Then out of nowhere….

"DIS IS A BUNCH A BULL! WE WON DAT GAME!" Joey slammed his fist into the locker, his frustration apparent.

"Let it go Joey…it's finished." Yami stated in a subdued tone.

"It may be finished all right, but everybody in dis damn arena knew who was da better team tonight!"

"Wheeler…whining like a bitch won't solve anything….so stop it already." Bakura chimed in, a sour expression on his face.

"You shut up, Bakura! I had it up ta here wit you! First ya go and try to kill Yug, then you try to tell me what to do? I'll pummel ya!" Joey lunged at Bakura and caught him with a jab to the face. Bakura responded with a punch to Joey's gut, and the fight was on. Their teammates separated them as Joey and Bakura yelled numerous obscenities at one another.

"What's all this?"

The team looked up from the carnage that they had cause to see their coach standing before them. His jet black hair was in disarray, and his midnight blue tie hung loosely on his neck.

"Well…they say that a team is a reflection of their coach. You want to know what I see when I look in the mirror? A man full of doubt…full of rage…full of anger. A man searching for the answers, but only finding more questions. Are you boys _my _reflection You boys will probably be spending sometime without me as you continue this season...and when, or if, I return…I hope we can make things right. Now you boys get dressed."

**Next Morning: **

Nathan looked at his alarm clock, wondering if he had even slept at all.

_Five in the morning…that means about two hours of sleep…damn._

Not really interested in sleeping any more, the coach pulled himself out of bed. He decided not to look at any game film this morning. He didn't care about his next opponent (Louisville, if your keeping score), hell he wanted to know if he still had a _job! _

**Meanwhile…in a meeting room**:

Ishizu sat uneasily in front of her boss. "So…that's what I recommend, Mr. Pegasus."

Pegasus stared a hole into Ishizu, studying her features. "Are you _sure_? This is a very risky proposal…for yourself and Nathan."

Her usually strong voice could only muster a meek "Yessir"

"Well…go ahead. I'll let you deliver the news. And Ishizu…if he crosses the line again, you'll be clearing out your things along with him. I'm assuming you already understand that, correct?"

She stood up, her body and mind exhausted from the long hearing. "I understand completely…now please excuse me."

_Hmmm…this game gets even more interesting as we go along. Those foolish referees almost blew our cover…but no matter! We still made thousands by simply betting on Domino City to cover the spread! Ishizu…if you be a good little girl and keep your mouth shut…everything should be alright…._

**Back at Nathan's apartment**:

Nathan looked over the various newspapers that had been printed that morning, and all of them had gone all out to bash him for his actions. There were pictures of his yelling and screaming, his throwing of the chair, anything that would add to the negativity.

_Ain't that something…we play the fifth ranked team in the entire country down to the last second, but the only thing they'll talk about is my temper…_

Nathan heard his phone ring and simply decided to let the answering machine take it.

_Um…this is Ishizu, from the front office. I'm calling you to inform you that you will be suspended for the Louisville game and fined 10,000 dollars. Another such incident with you will cost you and I our positions at the university. You should be thankful…I stuck out my neck for you on this because I believe that you have a chance to accomplish some great things here. By some miracle, the Board of Directors decided to keep you around. Don't worry, I've already informed Tristan of this and he will be coaching your team this week. Oh, you have a press conference at noon, I'm sure you'll know what to say to the media. Good day. _

"10,000 Dollars? That's a fifth of my salary! Oh well…act like an idiot, be treated like one." Nathan sighed as he read over the articles in the paper. He decided to turn on the television, and sure enough his little chair tossing incident was the talk of the sports world.

_What this man did was a disgrace to the sport…_

_He should be fired immediately…_

_He completely crossed the line here…_

"Nobody talks about the game….nobody gives a damn that these boys have gotten so much better since last year…it's a damn shame." Nathan turned off the TV in disgust and went to take his shower. He knew it was going to be a long, tiresome day.

**Press Conference**:

Nathan faced them as bravely as he could. Their cameras, their microphones, their pens, their ever-annoying questions, and their biased-ridden ideals never ceased in making him nauseous. Not as a player, definitely not now. However…he knew that what he had to say would have a lot of people listening.

" First of all, I want to apologize to the players, fans and coaches out there at the University of Kentucky as well as my own players, my assistant Tristan Taylor, our fans, and our administration. My actions not only overshadowed a great basketball game, but embarrassed myself and my team. For this, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. However, the situation that occurred at the end of the game should be examined closely. Although I respect the officials and their authority, I strongly disagree with the decisions they made towards the end of the game. They made some calls that I would call highly questionable at best. I would like to encourage the SEC to take a look at the game tape and see if there were any mistakes or misentrepretations of the rules. I'll take a few questions now."

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief on the inside; he knew the worst of it was over. Now came the boring part.

"Coach, I have received a statement from Domino University that you will be suspended for the upcoming game against Louisville, can you confirm that?"

"Yes…I have been suspended from that game, and will be back for our team's road game against Louisiana State."

"Coach, Neil Alfred from the New York Times. Did you speak to Coach Smith after the game?"

"I did speak with him after the game, I congratulated him for his team's victory and apologized for my actions. He was very kind to me.."

"Coach, Tea Gardner from The Domino News. How do you plan on spending your suspension?"

"Fishing probably, I haven't made up my mind yet."

The reporters laughed at this, and Nathan smiled slightly. He figured a little humor wouldn't hurt the situation.

"Coach, what do you think about Louisville? Do you think they are a top ten quality team?"

"Definitely! They took Illinois to the limit over the weekend, and they are usually strong in every aspect of the game. Coach Petino has done an excellent job there."

"How do think your team can beat them?"

"An all-around effort. You have to be absolutely perfect to beat them. They have improved significantly since last year."

Nathan continued to answer questions for about an hour, apologizing over and over for his actions. In his mind, he was already planning ahead for Louisiana State; Louisville was too good...

**Seto and Joey's Appartment, Later that day: **

Seto sat alone in the apartment he shared with his former nemesis, typing a research paper that wasn't due for another four weeks. His hard work had served him well as he currently held a perfect 4.0 grade point average; a rarity for any student, much less a student-athlete.

_Well, that should about finish this...Great, now no more work until finals, only basketball to worry about. I only have to sit out one more game in this fraudulent suspension...then I can show everyone what I'm capable of! _

Kaiba heard a knock on his door and shouted that it was open. To his surprise, it wasn't Joey, Mokuba, or even some insane fan-girl of his.

"Serenity?"

**Next time: Nathan decides to clear his head and think about his past...what place to do that better than home sweet home? Will someone be waiting as he returns to Louisiana? Also, Seto and Serenity meet again. Will love blossom, or will Joey see to it that the two never become a couple? And...Domino City completes it's tour of Kentucky with a trip to face the Louisville Cardinals. Are they really _that good? _**

Well...not sickness, the malfuctioning of my computer, writer's block, or life in general will not stop me from updating this fic! I promise that I'll try to have it updated by this Thursday or Friday, maybe sooner if I feel better. Thanks for reading, please review, and take care of yourself.

BigLos...out


	13. Home Sweet Home!

**A/N: **What's up readers? I've been drinking the Terrell Owens Kool-Aid and I'm back to full health! Well…almost full health anyway. Here's the thank-you list:

**Snow Weaver: **Thanks for your compliments…I'm glad you enjoy my writing. I'll be updating all three of my Y-G-O fics before Monday night, so enjoy!

**Shylyinthedark: **I appreciate your concern…you're a pal. And keep up the good work on your fic as well…I enjoy it very much!

**The Broken Bow: **Yup….Nathan brought all of this on himself. Everybody makes mistakes though, so let's not be to hard on the guy. Glad you enjoyed the chapter.

**Anime Ruthless: **Yep…Bob Knight all the way. You and Broken Bow noticed that little twist that I threw in. Yes, he is without question one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport in my eyes. And I received your info, so be on the lookout for your character!

**Telecoi**: I'm glad that you liked the last chapter. Oh...quick! Scroll about halfway down thischappie to get to the Seto/Serenity-ness of this chapter! Thanks for your review.

Is it just me, or do Bob Knight and Seto Kaiba have a lot in common? I mean, most people feel strongly about them one way or the other. They both seem hard and cold from one person's perspective, but when you look at them through the eyes of someone who is close to them (Knight's players, Kaiba's little brother) you see an almost entirely different individual. Maybe I've gone off the deep end, I don't know. Just figured I'd point that out. Here's the next chapter, Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Home Sweet Home

Nathan had boarded a plane that would take him back to where his life story began, Louisiana. He had seldom been there since he had left for Kansas, and since he began coaching hadn't seen his family.

He scrolled through the songs on his I-Pod and found the perfect song to listen to as his flight took off…

_**I spent last night in the arms of a girl from Louisiana **_

_**And though I'm out on the highway my thoughts are still with her**_

_**Such a strange combination of a woman and a child…**_

_**Such a strange situation stoppin' every hundred miles**_

_**Callin' Baton Rouge! **_

As Nathan listened to the song, he thought about what his love-life once was, and what had happened since that last night they had been together.

_Those were great times…we loved each other so much. _

_**A replay of last night's events roll through my mind**_

_**Except a scene or two erased by sweet red wine**_

_**And I see a truck stop ahead so I change lanes**_

_**I need a cup of coffee and a couple dollars change**_

_**Callin Baton Rouge! **_

Humph! She was everything to me…and I threw it all away. For what? A game? A championship ring? Another woman? Why did I let her go?

_**Operator won't you put me on through**_

_**I gotta send my love down to Baton Rouge**_

_**Hurry up won't you put her on the line **_

_**I gotta talk to the girl just one more time…**_

I tried to move on with my life, but every time I look at another woman, I can't help but see a little of Jessie in her…

_**Operator won't you put me on through**_

_**I gotta send my love down to Baton Rouge**_

_**Hurry up won't you put her on the line **_

_**I gotta talk to the girl just one more time…**_

_**Callin Baton Rouge! **_

_**Sweet Baton Rouge….My Baton Rouge**_

Maybe…it's not too late.

Meanwhile… 

**At Seto and Joey's Appartment:**

Seto Kaiba blinked as the sister of his long-time adversary came through the door.

Wheelerette...what do you want? The mutt left a while ago to hang out with the rest of your friends."

There was a tense silence after that; Serenity hated the way he would talk about her brother sometimes, even in front of her.

"I came over here to...invite you to Joey's surprise birthday party. Your brother took him him to the student union so that we could get it set up. Will you come?" Serenity appreared to be a little nervous, shaking slightly.

"Why would I go to the mutt's birthday party anyway?" Seto stood up...his tall, somewhat lanky figure towering over Serenity.

"Maybe because he's your teammate, for starters." Serenity put her hands on her hips, standing up for her older brother.

"You obviously don't play sports much, Wheelerette. Just because you play a game with someone doesn't mean you have to _like _them...especially if he's an pompous, overrated, third-rate piece of excrement!"

Serenity cocked her hand back to slap the taste out of Seto's mouth, but he caught her by the wrist and pinned her against the wall easily. She could feel his hot breath on her face, his blue eyes glaring at her ominously.

"No one touches me...I gave you a pass once...don't expect another." He gave her an icy smile as she struggled against his grip.

_She looks pretty cute when she's angry...what the hell did I just say to myself?_

Kaiba didn't have time to contemplate this as Serenity's foot came into contact with his shin, breaking Seto's hold.

"Ouch! You little brat, That hurt!" Seto grabbed his shin as Serenity gave him a smug look.

"You deserved that you know!" Serenity stuck out her tounge at Kaiba as he glared at her.

"Now...will you please come to Joey's party? " Serenity put on her most pleading face in an attempt to make Kaiba feel a little guilty. Despite what her friends said about him, she found hanging around him could be quite fun.

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze?"

_Am I going soft or something? Damn that pretty face!_

"Alright."

**Meanwhile, In Baton Rouge...**

Nathan landed in Baton Rouge after a long, tiresome flight. He had gotten some stares from some of the passengers, but he expected that. Anyone who had made a fool of himself that way would probably be looked at a little differently. As he made his way out of the airport, he found that some purple and gold clad fans were making their way back from a long trip as well.

"Hey Colby, we love ya, but yer TIGER BAIT!" **(1)**One of them, a burly man with balding hair shouted.

"Yeah, You're gonna get it when you and your boys come down here!" Someone else shouted loudly.

After that comment, they began a small chant of "Tiger Bait", which made Nathan laugh outright.

_Even when they're not at the games...they're still fans. A little eccentric...yes. Crazy, but clean._

Nathan decided to say something that would either shut them up or throw them into a homicidal frenzy.

"**_WAR EAGLE!" (2)_**

The group booed a little bit, then laughed and went on their way.

_I'm glad that's over. Now to head on home..._

As Nathan made his way outside, he saw a familiar Pontiac Sunfire sitting in the parking lot. The driver rolled down the car window and smiled happily at the new arrival.

"Welcome home, son."

Nathan smiled back at the vehicle's driver. "It's good to be back, dad."

**Next time: Nathan talks with his family about the incident at Kentucky, his love-life, and his future. Will someone try to pursuade him not to come back? Seto, after Serenity's prodding, goes to Joey's surpise birthday party. Someone lets out a secret that could tear one couple apart, and someone confesses a long-time crush! Also...the team meets Louisville in early season action. Are they out of their leauge? **

**(1) Tiger Bait is a common chant used by LSU fans to refer to anyone who support or plays for a visiting team in any sport. Very annoying and slightly amusing at the same time**

**(2) War Eagle...Battle cry of Auburn University, bitter rivals of LSU in most sports, especially football. True Story: I said those words at a telecast of an LSU football game as a joke, the entire room looked at me as if they wanted to skin me alive. THESE WERE MY FRIENDS! Sorry...just rambling about the past. **

**Oh, credits for the song...Well the song is "Callin Baton Rouge", I want to see if someone knows the artist. Here's a hint: If you don't listen to country music or live in Baton Rouge...you probably won't get it. Winner gets a prize! **

**It's been a great weekend for me as a Glenmora High Alum, the Lady Wildcats took the Louisiana State Title, the first in school history. YOU GO GIRLS! The boys have a shot at their own this week.**

**BigLos...out**


	14. The Wildcat, The Dragon, and The Mutt

**A/N: **So much for writer's block! I'm back! No time to waste, let's get this chapter started! (Thank-you's are at the end of the chapter this time.)

**Chapter 13: The Wildcat, The Dragon, and The Mutt**

Nathan walked into the gym where his basketball life began over a decade ago. The school colors of red and white were prominent throughout the tiny gym, especiallyin the clothing of thefans. Banners were placed on the walls, signifying both boys and girls State titles. One of them, a portrait, honored the year that Nathan and his brother helped the school take its first state title.

_Will…_

Nathan heard a mighty cheer rising up from the crowd. He saw the scoreboard and saw the reason for their joy…

**Wildcats: 60**

**Guest: 59**

The girls game had just ended with a buzzer-beater, and the team rushed the floor in jubilation.

"Dad…who's coaching them now?"

"Who, the girls?"

"Yessir"

The senior Colby wiped his brow, then adjusted his bifocals. "Ulrich took over after your uncle Jasper retired, they've clinched a spot in the playoffs tonight with this win."

Nathan nodded, then father and son found a spot to sit in the crowded gymnasium. Some music was heard playing over the public address system, and the crowd (most of it, anyway) began to cheer and clap. Nathan clapped along, then sang a song that he and everyone in the Red and White had sung since birth…

**Fight, You Glenmora Wildcats!**

**For alma mater fight! (Fight Fight Fight!)**

**Glory in the combat**

**For the Crimson and the White!**

**Faithful to our colors, we shall ever be…**

**Fighting, ever fighting for a WILDCAT VICTORY!**

**G-L-E-N-M-O-R-A…Goooooo 'Cats! **

After the song was finished, the boys from both teams began to warm up for their game.

"Dad…what about the boys?"

The elder Colby pointed his son in the direction of a person he new rather well. Dressed in a red polo shirt and blue jeans, he set himself apart from his counterpart, whom was dressed in a more professional looking suit. His red hair was cut short, and his piercing green eyes were aided with glasses.

"Chris…my brother-in-law? I thought he was coaching with his dad at Ole Miss** (1)**."

"Tides of change…his dad got fired after last season, the new guy purged the entire staff. I feel pretty bad for him. What about you…whose running _your_ team these days?"

Nathan looked at his father, and by the look on the aging man's face he knew he was in for a lecture.

"Tristan, my assistant is running the team now…but I'll bet it's the inmates who are running the asylum up there. He's younger than me, you know."

"Looks to me like they let one of the inmates loose…don't you think?" The last part of that statement was a little harsher than Nathan expected.

"Dad…"

"You know what you did was wrong! I've coached and played basketball for more than thirty years, and I've NEVER been more ashamed. Not only did you make a total ass of yourself, you embarrassed me and your mother on national television! What do you have to say for yourself?"

Nathan looked away from his father for a while…instead concentrating on the scoreboard.

"_I know you can hear me, Nathan James Colby!_"

"It was stupid…Dad, I didn't mean to blow up like that, but I know you saw that last foul…it was so much B.S.!"

"Yeah it was….worst call in about ten years I'd say. That doesn't excuse what _you _did. Your mother and I stressed to you, your sister, and your brother, God rest his soul, that you are responsible for your own actions, on or off the court."

Nathan breathed a heavy sigh, then replied to his father.

"You're right…looks like Chris's team is having trouble with the press." **(2)**

"Yeah…you know your momma's gonna whip your ass black and blue when you get home, right?"

Father and Son laughed as they watched the game reach halftime…

**Wildcats: 34**

**Guest: 38**

**Meanwhile, Back at the University…**

_Happy Birthday To You _

_Happy Birthday To You_

_Happy Birthday Dear Joey_

_Happy Birthday To You!_

"You guys…you did all dis for me?" Joey blushed wildly as his friends and sister presented his birthday cake.

"Of course we did Joseph! Now shut up and make a wish!" Mai shouted, smiling at her boyfriend. Joey blew out the candles as he was told, and his birthday celebration got underway.

"Excuse me…Serenity?" The young girl looked around to see Yami standing in front of her, his crimson eyes showing signs of nervousness.

"Would you like to…dance?"

Serenity smiled.

I can't believe the Wheelerette dragged me to this party! It looks like nothing more than a reunion of that old Dweeb Patrol. What's this?

Seto Kaiba gazed from his position in the corner of the room at a sight that he thought would make him vomit. Yami and Serenity were dancing, and it appeared that Serenity was enjoying herself immensely.

_The 'Bleeding Heart' Wheelerette and that starfish-haired freak Yami…what a pair!_

The sarcasm in Seto's thought forced him to think of a scenario that he wouldn't have thought possible a few weeks ago.

_Am…I…jealous? No way! I'm THE Seto Kaiba. I run my own company, go to college, and raise my younger brother at the same time! I have my own damn fan club! I eat lightning and crap thunder! There's no way in hell I could be jealous of that freak Yami just because he has that irresistible, cute, and highly intelligent…what the heck? Did I just say cute?_

Seto Kaiba had to admit something to himself...he was falling for Serenity Wheeler more by the second.

**Back at the game...**

Nathan and his father looked on as the home team pulled away for a historic route of their arch-rival. Historical due to the fact that this would be the first time since Nathan graduated theywould finish unbeaten in district play.

**Wildcats: 75**

**Guest: 56**

"These boys are lookin' pretty good, son."

"Yeah...I want to talk to Chris for a second, alright?"

"Sure, I'll be waiting outside. But don't take too long, your mama made sweet potato pie, my favorite."

Nathan chuckled to himself as he made his way towards Chris and his old locker room.

_I hope Chris got over that little incident in college..._

**Flashback:**

**Orlando, Florida 1995**

**Mississippi vs. Kansas, NCAA East Regional Final**

_Chris Ruth just made the shot of his life for the Ole Miss Rebels! They lead the Jayhawks 67-65 with 10.5 seconds remaining. _

Mississippi basketball had never been better. They were just seconds away from knocking off one of the great powers of Collegiate basketball and advancing to the Final Four for the first time. Nathan Colby changed all that, not only saving his team from a huge upset, but slowing (if not stopping altogether) Ole Miss' rise to the top.

_Chris Ruth and Nathan Colby...Pillars of the Glenmora High championship teams of recent years in Louisiana, have matched up magnificently tonight! Ruth has 26 points, Colby with 30 himself. Here's Buck...he passes the ball up to Rodriguez...Rodriguez dribbels...He's caught in a double team...3 seconds...He's gotta do something! He finds Colby in the corner wide open..._

Chris looked on as the ball sailed in the air, his team's fate to be decided in a matter of moments...

_It clangs on the rim...and IN! GOOOOOD! KANSAS WINS! THE JAYHAWKS ARE GOING BACK TO THE FINAL FOUR! **(3)**UNBELIEVABLE! _

Nathan felt as if he could walk on water. He leaped triumphantly into the stands, carrying on as if he had already won the National Championship. Chris feel to his knees, no tears, no wailing, no emotion. He knew he gave all he had that night, it just wasn't enough.

When all the celebration was done, when all the tears were shed, the two childhood friends stood at center court and shook hands.

"Good game Chris...We should do this more often." Nathan smiled, his tear-stained face beaming with a bright smile.

"Good game Nathan...Go to Atlanta and kick some butt, man." As numb as he felt, Chris managed a weak smile of his own.

It was a day neither one of them would ever forget.

**End of Flashback**

**Meanwhile...back at the University: **

Yami and Serenitywere outside alone, sitting down on a bench near Mai's appartment.

"Serenity...there is something I've been meaning to tell you..."

Yami shiften uncomfortably on the bench. Even though he knew he felt this way for a while, it was still difficult for him to express it.

"What is it?"

Silence...Yami couldn't get the words out. He didn't know how to say it, so he decided to show her.

He kissed her. On the lips.

Serenity was a little shocked. She didn't refuse the kiss, she didn't return it either. She sat there in stunned silence, until a towering figure behind Yami came into view.

"Kaiba?"

**Uh-oh? Seto catches Serenity and Yami together! Will sparks fly? Nathan visits with his friend/rival Chris...but is someone else waiting in the wings? Find out next time!**

**(1) Two things here, "Ole Miss" is a popular term for the University of Mississippi, which I hate. Also, Anime-Ruthless's character, Chris Ruth, made his first appearance **here

**(2) Press defense in college basketball is just a hustling, man-to-man style of defense that puts enphasis on defensive speed and pressure. **

**(3) "The Final Four" is basically the four remaining teams in the NCAA tournament playing for the national title at a neutral site. Considering there are well over 300 teams that play Division I basketball, and that 65 of them play in this tournament, making it to the Final Four is almost as big an honor as winning the National Championship itself. **

Now...to thank you's:

**Anime Ruthless: **Yep, that TO kool-aid is badass! It comes in five different flavors! Anyway, I just went random on the physical description of your character. I hope you don't mind. And yes, Garth Brooks indeed is the man behind "callin baton rouge". I'll tell you what your prize is next chapter. Congratulations.

**Telecoi: **Glad you liked the whole song-fic-within-a-fic, and more SetoSerenity is comming...or is it?

**The Broken Bow:bangs hand on desk: **NO NO NO! Two people weren't supposed to know that Garth Brooks did "callin baton rouge"! Oh well...I'll tell you and Anime what your prize is in the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing.

**ShylyintheDark: **Thanks so much for your reviews and your patience, and let me make one thing clear: YOU'VE NEVER ANNOYED ME...not once. I just wanted to let you know that.

Well...that's it, friends.

BigLos...out.


	15. The Dark Side of Nathan Colby, Part I

A/N: What's up, my loyal readers? Hope life is treating you pretty good, here's a little YGO/Hoops action to help you through the day. Enjoy!

**Chapter 14: The Dark Side of Nathan Colby, Part I  
**

Tristan looked up at the scoreboard of Freedom Hall. It was no where near the outcome he wanted, substitute coach or not.

**Cardinals: 97**

**Saints: 48**

He looked over his team, and couldn't figure out anything to say. Their coach was suspended, and arguably their best player was sitting out the final game of a suspension of his own. Complete chaos had destroyed the delicate chemistry of the team, and Tristan was thanking any higher power that existed that he wouldn't have to figure out how to fix things by himself.

_Well, it appears the Domino City Saints have gone back to their 'Aints' form. This is a truly embarrassing loss for Tristan Taylor, who became the youngest coach to ever coach a college basketball game. Anything good you can get out of this, Don?_

Seto Kaiba sat on the bench, in a warm-up suit instead of his traditional suit and trenchcoat. His gaze wasn't at the clock, or the score, or anything on the basketball coat. He was staring at the sister of his longtime rival and current teammate, and was wondering if he would ever have the chance to make up for what he had done earlier that week….

_To be honest, Jimmy, the only good part about a loss like this is that you can get the hell out of here and get ready for the next game…that's about all I can think of._

Yami sat down on the bench, his eyes focused on the floor. Tristan had benched all the starters and most of the backups early in the second half, giving people who hardly play a chance to gain some experience. What was going on in this game was troubling him, but that was a distant second compared to a certainyoung womansitting in the stands...

_Three...two...one...and that will be the end of this beating. Louisville wins here at Freedom Hall going away by the count of 102-54. Lousiville ups its record to 5-1, the Saints fall to 0-3. We'll be coming to you from Baton Rouge next time you hear us, as the Saints face the Louisiana State Fightin' Tigers in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. For Don Shaefer, I'm Jimmy Garnet, we'll send it back to HQ for scores and updates after the break. You've been listening to the Domino City Radio Network, Goodnight. _

_

* * *

_

The team sat in their locker room in silence. Tristan didn't even address the team. Yugi threw down his bag in frustration, kicking and shouting an obscenity in the process. Even this highly unusual occurance went unnoticed. After the events of the night previous, he had worries of his own.

* * *

Nathan turned off the T.V. in disgust, his father and brother-in-law beside him. 

"That was terrible...a truly horseshit performance!"

Nathan's father glanced over at his son with a look of surprise. "Nathan, I didn't know you used such language!"

"Sorry, Dad...It's just that they can play so much better than that! I don't know what to do now..."

"Yes you do, son. Or they wouldn't have hired you in the first place. I know what I would do, but I'm just some old guy talkin'. It's your team." With that, the elder Colby got up and left the living room, leaving Nathan and Chris alone.

"Well...what are you going to do?"

"You remember what my dad did after we lost a game, right?" Chris cringed slightly at the memory.

"Yeah, but do you think they can handle it Nathan? They don't appear to really get along with themselves...are you sure you want to do this? You might lose the team!"

"I'm pretty sure." Nathan looked out the window, his view of the moon obstructed by cloud cover. "How's Susie doing? You know that I'll kick your butt if she's not happy!"

Chris laughed hysterically at the mock-threat. He had married Nathan's younger sister Susie three years prior.

"She's fine, _big brother_. We're expecting a baby soon."

"Really? How along is she?"

"Six months to be exact...and I'm hating every second of it." Nathan turned around to see his younger sister standing before him, her auburn hair tied back in a ponytail, her dark brown eyes full of sarcasm. "Well, aren't you going to give your little sister a hug?"

"I don't think I should..." With that reply Nathan found his ear in a painful grip thanks to his sister. "OK, OK, You win!"

Brother and sister laughed, exchanging a warm heartfelt hug. "It's good to see you again Nathan."

**Meanwhile...Back at Freedom Hall: **

Yami and Joey sat side by side as they rode back to their hotel in heavy traffic, an eerie silence hovering over the two. Both had something they wanted to say, but was hoping the other would speak first. **  
**

"Um...Joey...I just want to say that I'm..."

Joey cut off his longtime friend. "Yami...let's let the past stay past, OK? There's no need to apologize for what you did. Heck, if it were me, I probably woulda done da same thing."

"But...Kaiba and I...I don't know how we're going to coexist after this." 

"Dats between you and Moneybags...Let me get some sleep, will ya?" Yami shook his head as Joey nodded off to sleep.

* * *

Yugi sat beside Seto Kaiba at the back of the bus, both reading some books to pass the time. Yugi put down his World History textbook and decided to ask a question that everybody in Domino City probably wanted to hear the answer to. 

"Kaiba...do you like Serenity?"

Kaiba glared hard at the smaller Yugi, causing Yugi to slide towards the edge of his seat.

"No..."

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the tension between his brother and Kaiba may finally be squashed.

"I think...I think I love her..."

At that, Yugi fell off the edge of his seat, stunned.

* * *

Malik, Duke, and Bakura sat, checking their email on a laptop that Malik had brought along. 

"We sucked it up tonight, didn't we?" Malik said, his spirits down.

"Yup...are you going out after we get to the hotel?" Duke said, reading an e-mail from his family.

Malik rubbed his sore shoulder. "I don't know...I'm not much in a party mood tonight."

"Let me see that Ra-damned laptop...I'm expecting some news from home." Bakura said, his voice seeping with fatigue.

"OK! Here...I'm finished." Duke nearly threw the laptop to Bakura...causing Malik to chastise him in a rather colorful manner.

"So...Duke, have you talked to Serenity since all that crap happened?"

The raven-haired Devlin shook his head. "I saw her in Chemistry class before we left, she was like a zombie. I don't think I heard her say a word all class."

"What? This can't be!" Bakura stared at the screen as if he had seen a ghost.

"What is it, man?" Duke asked, his voice filled with a mix of concern and annoyance.

Bakura stuttered, unable to get the words out. Malik looked at the screen, read a couple of lines, and laughed. "Your brother Ryou is comming here next semester? Why the heck are you so upset?"

"Because he's like you two fools!" Bakura spat out, then gave the computer back to its owner.

**Meanwhile, at the Colby Residence...**

"So big brother...are there any special women in your life right now?"

This question always made Nathan nervous. He really hated to talk about his dealings with the opposite sex; they usually didn't end on a positive note.

"Well, sis...there are two women...that are special to me right now."

Susie raised an eyebrow. "Are you dating TWO women at the same time?"

Nathan raised his hand dismissively. "No...that's not it. You see...one of them I used to date a long time ago. We had our problems sure, but I never really stopped caring for her. As for the other girl...she's smart, polite, and probably the prettiest thing I've ever laid eyes on. To be honest...I don't know what to do."

"All I can say is follow your heart. You have to make a choice before this gets out of hand." Susie gave her brother another hug, and went back into the kitchen.

The next morning...Nathan headed back to Domino City, his task more daunting than ever.

**Next time: The team gets an up-close look at Nathan at his worst as they prepare to visit LSU. And what exactly happened the night of Joey's birthday party? WillNathan choose the girl of his dreams or the girl of his past?All will be answered! **

**ANIME RUTHLESS...BROKEN BOW...READ THIS! Seeing that you two won my prize for the last chapter, let me tell you what it is. Is there a character or a couple or conflict in this story that you would like me to focus on? Let me know by either review or e-mail, and I'll dedicate that particular chapter to you, with the couple, character, or conflict in mind. I know, its not exactly a great prize, but a prize nevertheless. **

Now...thank-you's to go around:

**The Broken Bow: **Yes, the Final Four will soon be upon us! Ahhh...I've got to get my brackets ready, my popcorn poppin, and my radio dial up because my LSU Fightin' Tigers will be taking part. I just love this time of year...Oh...thanks for your review!

**Telecoi: **Hmm...Yami/Serenity paring...It could happen. But the question I pose to you is this: Should I? Thanks for your review.

**Anime Ruthless: **I know, I know...0-3 isn't exactly the best record for a team to start with. And Joey...well from the looks of things, I don't think he knows exactly what to think yet! LOL...anyway, thanks for your review.

**RoseGoddess874: **Interesting situation with Kaiba, Serenity, and Yami indeed! I'm not sure where this love triangle will end, but if you have a suggestion, feel free to share! Thanks for your review, and I'll be checking out your work as soon as I'm done here.

**LeighC and Shy: **Thanks to you both for reviewing. The thunder and lighting crack was a paraphrase of a quote from one of the Rocky movies, it cracked me up when I was writing it. I'm glad I perked up Shy a little bit, you shouldn't worry about the annoyance factor with me, because it takes a hell of a lot for me to be annoyed with anybody, much less somebody as nice as you. Thanks again you two!

**Well, if you haven't done it yet, I strongly urge you to check out my other Yugioh fics, YUGIOH HEROES: BOOK ONE, and ANGRY PEOPLE. If you like this, then you may like them. Don't ask me how good they are, I just write em**

**That's all there is, there isn't anymore. **

**BigLos...out**


	16. The Dark Side of Nathan Colby, Part II

**A/N: **It has begun, my dear readers! The greatest sports event in this hemisphere is happening as I type these very words! But hey, you didn't come here to hear about basketball, you came to read a fic…right? Here are some thank-yous:

**The Broken Bow: **Thanks for your review first off. Now to your question: I do think that LSU men can go far in the NCAA tournament. They are in a bracket that I think they can win, but our guards MUST play PERFECT basketball. The women…I really think they can win it. They are that damn good. Oh…about your prize…please have an idea or two when you review, or email me (its listed on my profile).

**Anime Ruthless:** I may be in the minority, but I think Villanova can make it to the final four. They are going to have to play outstanding to get there, but it's not out of the realm or reason. As far as LSU goes…I'll be happy with the Sweet 16 for the men. I expected them to go to the NIT (National Invitational Tournament for non-sports fans) early on in the year and I'm extremely happy right now. As far as your prize goes, I'll consider both Ideas and probably use them both. Thanks a bunch.

**Shyly in the dark: **Thanks so much for your review. I think if I got somebody interested in basketball and presented an idea that's fresh, I've accomplished what I set out to do.

**Telecoi: **Now this may be just a guess, but it appears that you are a big, BIG Ryou fan. Don't worry; he will be there soon enough. Thanks for your review.

**Rosegoddess874: **Yeah, Yami did come out of the blue, but did you think Kaiba was going to get Serenity THAT easy? Thanks for your review and your opinion.

**Snow Weaver: **Sometime before you read this, you should have already gotten an email from me. (I think you know what its about). Thanks for your review, and I'm hoping you decide to update something in the near future.

Yay! I'm no longer the only person that has used basketball in a Yu-gi-oh fic. Its called Love and Basketball…I don't know by whom, I forgot the author's name. If you can stand yaoi (which, I can't), you might want to check it out. Also…I'll be changing my pen name soon…to what I'm not sure. I don't know why. Well…here's the next chapter, Enjoy (oh LSU tips off at 8:50 P.M. Central Time, watch or I disconnect your cable! Hahahaha!)

**_Warning: This chapter contains strong language. So be warned. OK that doesn't make sense, but you get what I'm saying, don't you? _**

****

**Chapter 15: The Dark Side of Nathan Colby, Part II**

Yugi, Yami, Joey, Mako, Bakura, Duke, Malik, Kaiba, and the rest of the team walked into an empty gym. It was a cool October morning; the sun was not yet up.

"What is this nonsense? Practice at six in the morning?" Bakura spat out in his usual unpleasant mood.

"Does anybody know what the heck is going on?" Malik asked, his lavender eyes full of confusion.

"And why da heck is it so hot in here? It feels like a freakin' sauna in here!" Joey put in, wiping beads of sweat from his brow.

"You're all here…that's good."

Nathan walked into the gym, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, Tristan beside him.

"102 to 54…WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL WAS THAT? You boys looked like chickens with their damn heads cut off!"

Yami hung his head in shame, Joey gulped audibly.

"Tristan tells me that you boys had a little too much fun at a party while I was gone. He tells me that someone got in a fight out in the street. Guess what? Not only are we going to run suicides until the world ends, you jokers are staying right here with me until I found out WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAPPENED LAST WEEK! And another thing, that crap that happened at Louisville will NEVER happen again! As of right now, ALL of you are under evaluation, nobody's starting job is safe, nobody's playing time is safe, hell, and nobody's spot on the team is safe! NOW LINE UP!"

"Coach…we have classes to go to. We don't have time for basketball "boot-camp"." Kaiba put in, his arms folded across his chest.

"Nobody's holding a damn gun to your head…now get in line or get the fuck out."

Kaiba, with all the self-control he could muster, joined his teammates in running.

Nathan watched his team run, their speed surprising him somewhat. After making note of this team speed, his mind thought back on happenings earlier that morning.

_**Flashback:**__**  
University Bank**_

****

****

Nathan walked over to the bank teller to get his deposit out. He wasn't making much money these days, but had saved every penny he could while at Kansas. After counting his withdrawal, he exited the bank and came across two familiar faces. One of them was one of his bosses, Ishizu. The other looked a lot like Malik, except that his hair was a bit longer and his face had this chiseled look to it, almost evil in a way…

"Ahh…our great coach, Nathan Colby! Nice game against Louisville wouldn't you say?" Marik laughed as he finished, and was quickly chastised by his sister.

"Brother, maybe we should leave…"

"Not yet, Ishizu. I want to hear how he plans to fare against Louisiana State." Marik glared haughtily at the raven-haired man in front of him, his demeanor almost daring him to fight him. "I bet the Athletic Director that we would stay within 30 points of them. How do you plan on doing that, eh?"

Ishizu looked from her brother to Nathan, fearing a bitter confrontation was only seconds away.

But to her surprise, her brother's comments didn't seem to faze Nathan. Even more to her surprise, Nathan _smiled._

"My plan, Mister Ishtar…is to start you at point guard and let you earn the money."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir…Well, I better get going…I an early practice to get to, plus some game film to watch."

Malik grabbed him by the arm to stop him, and Ishizu noted that the smile that was on Nathan's face had evaporated in a nanosecond.

"I think that you have the right Ishtar to get the job done…don't you?" Marik said, an eerie smile creeping onto his lips.

"I think you better get your goddamn hand off me before I rip it off." Nathan's words were cold, deliberate, and full of malice.

Ishizu looked at them both, worried that a fight was sure to break out now.

Marik realized that the coach meant business, and let go of him quickly. "Sorry to unnerve you so…I was just giving a friendly suggestion."

Lavender eyes met dark green, and Nathan spoke again.

"Right…now excuse me, as I said earlier I have a lot of work to do."

With that, Nathan got into his blue mustang, and headed for his office.

High-class asshole… 

_Ra-damned fool…_

_**End of Flashback...**_

**_Now Back in the Present:_ **

Nathan was pulling each of his players to the side, one by one. He interviewed them with the flair of any professional interrogator.

"Devlin…get over here!"

Devlin came over from the defensive drills that were taking place, and another person took his spot.

"So Duke…something you want to tell me about what happened?" Nathan's voice was calm…almost too calm.

Duke breathed heavily, sweat seemingly dripping out of every pore of his body. "No, sir."

"You don't know anything about what happened either?"

Duke shook his head.

"Alright…fall back in. JOEY! Get over here!" After Nathan's call, Joey arrived quickly, almost slipping on the wooden floor.

"Yeah, coach?"

"Well, I guess you don't know about what happened at this particular party either, do you?" Yami shot a quick, nervous glance in Joey's direction.

"ANSWER ME!" Joey, who was looking over at Yami, jerked his head up quickly.

"Yeah…I know what happened."

"Now, are you gonna tell me what happened, or am I going to have to keep running you and the rest of these boys ragged?"

Joey exhaled deeply. He didn't want to rat anyone out…but he didn't want to practice in this oven of a gym for the rest of the day either.

"Well…coach, it was like dis…

**_Flashback_ **

_**Joey's Birthday Party…**_

****

****

"Kaiba?"

Serenity stared up into Kaiba's dark blue eyes, her face full of surprise.

"What are you doing out here?" Serenity and Yami both stood up, waiting for Kaiba to speak. He didn't say a word.

"Kaiba…is everything O.K.?" Kaiba answered by hitting Yami in the jaw with a left hook.

"You pompous, overbearing windbag! I'll kill you!" Kaiba got on top of Yami, and began to beat on the shorter boy with a vengeance. Somehow, Yami managed to roll him over and was now in control of things.

"What in Ra's name are you doing? What is this all about?" Yami felt Kaiba's grip around his throat.

"It's about you! Everything that I work so hard to obtain, you're there to take it from me! Basketball…Duel Monsters…and now the woman I care about? No fucking way…you'll die before you lay another hand on her!" The two rivals continued to brawl, Serenity pleading for them to stop.

"What da heck? What's goin on out here?" Joey, Duke, and Yugi heard the commotion, and had come out to break up the fight.

"C'mon Yami, enough is enough!" Yugi pulled desperately on his twin brother, trying to pry him and Kaiba apart.

"Out of the way…I'm going to end this now!"

"Not if I get to you first, you bastard!" Kaiba was being restrained by Duke, who was yelling a stunning array of curses and pleas for Kaiba to stop fighting. Suddenly Mai came onto the scene, and decided to help.

"Kaiba, stop it! This is pointless…you can't prove love this way!" Mai was tugging on his elbow, with Duke pulling at Kaiba by the waist.

"You fools let go of me…NOW!"

"Not until you calm down, this isn't the time or the place for a fight."

"I SAID LET GO!" With that, Kaiba began throwing his elbows. One of them connected with Mai…right in the temple.

Kaiba stopped. Yami stopped. Everyone fell silent as Mai hit the concrete unconscious.

One of the backup players, Justin, leaned over her body to check the injury.

"Why is everybody standing' around? Call a damn doctor!"

At the hospital… 

Everyone had rushed into the hospital lobby, all concerned for the well being of Mai Valentine. Malik and Bakura, who were at the dorm studying, had been called and were on their way. Everyone else was there, and tensions were high.

Kaiba sat by himself, his guilt weighing him down like a boulder.

Well…this wasn't supposed to happen. Mai's sitting in that hospital room with a concussion, Serenity hasn't spoken to me since I fought that moron Yami, and now I'm sure the mutt is pissed off…

Indeed, the "mutt" was rather upset. And before he went in to see his girlfriend, he let Seto Kaiba know exactly how he felt.

"Joey…maybe we should talk about this after everybody is calm and cool." Yugi said, trying to restrain his best friend.

"There he is! You no good, woman hitting, filthy swine!" Joey grabbed Kaiba by the shirt and flung him against the wall.

"I don't ever wanna see you near my sista again, you got dat moneybags?" Kaiba merely pushed Joey away from him, back into Yugi's grip.

"Get away from me, Wheeler…I don't have time for this discussion right now."

"Well I do you son-of-a-bitch! You damn near killed Mai!"

"I know Joey! I'm SORRY! WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?"

Kaiba's tone was angry and full of frustration, to a certain point pleading.

Joey just glared at him, so full of anger.

_**End of Flashback.**_

_**Back in the present…**_

****

"….and dat's how it ended." Joey had told him everything that had gone on that night, and stood waiting for his coach to pass judgment.

"Is that all true, Joey?"

"Every iota…"

"Alright…HEY! You guys head on out, I'll see you at six this evening."

The team looked over at him perplexed. It was as if his attitude had done a 180 in less than five minutes.

"Well…what are you waiting for…get your asses out of here and get on to class!"

The building cleared in a minute flat.

Nathan, all alone in the building now, sat down on the bench. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and glanced over it a moment. His concern wasn't with LSU. His concern wasn't even with his team's chemistry, which he knew was horrible at the moment. It was a monster, heading in his team's direction. A monster from the south end of New York State…

Mighty Titans Sagat scores 42 as Jump City rolls over Alabama, 98-76, Gain Top 25 ranking for first time in school history. 

_We got a long…long way to go._

**Will Kaiba and Yami put their differences behind them? How will Domino City fare against LSU? And what has little Yugi so nervous? Find out next time! **

**Well boys and girls, I gotta get ready to cheer for my LSU Tigers. Also, if anyone who reviews here actually plays the Trading Card Game of Yugioh, I would appreciate it if you would help me out with this fic that I'm writing. Take care, and have a good weekend! **

**BigLos…out**


	17. Redemption

**A/N: **Greetings, loyal readers. I'm back as I've decided NOT to change my name for the moment. Anyway, some thank-yous are in order:

**ML of the SS Merry Go: **Yay…new reader! Glad to have you on board, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic. Thanks for reviewing.

**RoseGoddess874: **Glad you enjoyed the next chapter, and Yeah, Kaiba does have a point. Yami always seems to steal his thunder somehow…anyway thanks for reviewing.

**Anime Ruthless: **Best of luck to Nova…they're gonna need all of it. As I had preached to anyone who would listen, LSU's guards would take them as far as they would go in the NCAA tournament; that wasn't very far. Oh well, at least the Lady Tigers are alive and kickin'. You noticed the little John Chaney reference in there…nice. I have a lot of respect for the guy, and I hope what happened when he sent in the so-called goon to rough up St. Joe's doesn't define his career. Thanks for reviewing.

**Snow Weaver: **Beware, that may not be the last brawl you'll see in this fic! Anyways, thanks for reviewing, and I'll be getting back to you on your fic soon.

**LeighC and Shy: **Thanks to you both for reviewing and encouraging me. You two are pals. And when the heck are YOU going to update, Shy? I'm ready for that next chapter!

**Telecoi: **Everybody's been asking that question. "What happened with Tea and Bakura?" Well, in this chapter…maybe you'll get a clue. Or maybe not. Anyways, thanks for reading.

**The Broken Bow: **I've received your e-mail, and will work on a chapter for you and Anime accordingly. Thanks for the rave review, and make sure you keep doing your homework!

Well…I think that's everybody. Enjoy the chapter!

"**_What to do with a mistake…recognize it, admit it, learn from it, and forget it." _Dean Smith, Former Basketball coach at North Carolina. **

Chapter 16: Redemption 

Nathan looked around the Pete Maravich Center, and saw an arena a little over halfway full, most of it dressed in LSU purple and gold. He could hear the LSU pep band playing "Eye of The Tiger", gearing up for the game. He saw a small smattering of blue and gray near his team's bench, and that was about it. Taking a look up high into the stands, he saw this man waving a Confederate battle flag that had the traditional blue and red colors replaced by purple and gold.

With that image in his mind, he headed back to the locker room to address his players. Even though the game was foremost on his mind, he couldn't help but think back on an incident that had taken place two days previous.

Flashback 

_**Two Days Earlier**_

_**Nathan's office**_

Nathan took another swallow of his water as he studied the game film of his next opponent.

They don't have much in the way of guards, but they are going to be VERY hard to stop inside…Truth be told, I don't think we can stop them inside…

As he continued to look over the film, he heard a knock on his office door.

"It's open."

Stepping through the door, a very angry looking Ishizu came into Nathan's view.

"Is there a problem, Miss Ishtar?"

Ice blue eyes meet Nathan's and he could see that she was not here to play games with him.

"You're the problem. You call a practice at six in the morning, and keep them in there for FOUR hours? You threaten my brother in public, and you've already gotten yourself suspended by the NCAA once this season. What will you do for an encore?"

"That incident with your brother, he shouldn't have put his hands on me…"

"I DON'T CARE!" Ishizu snapped harshly. "Listen to me. This university is a really strange place. I can't keep covering your ass forever."

Nathan approached Ishizu, and the two stood face to face. "First of all, make this clear…I run this team, not you or anyone else. I'll run my program as I see fit, athletic director be damned. And another thing, I didn't precisely ASK you to make excuses for me. I'm accountable on my own. Now unless you've got something else important to say…I've got a game to prepare for."

"As a matter of fact I do…I've talked to Pegasus…if you don't beat LSU, he'll fire you. So win, OK?"

Ishizu's frown disappeared and was replace with a slight smile. "It's nice having you around here, so get it done, OK?"

With that, Ishizu left him to his own devices.

She silently prayed that that would be enough.

End of Flashback… 

_**Back at the Arena…**_

_This is Jimmy Garnet on the Domino City Radio Network, along with my long-time colleague Don Schaefer. We'll be back with the tip-off in just a second, but first let's send you to the "Mistress of the Microphone", our own Raven Gutierrez with some scores…_

_Thank you, Jimmy. Let's get started with the new number one team in the country, a team that Coach Colby knows quite well I'm sure, the Kansas Jayhawks. This monster of a team was in action earlier, and they took Southern California behind the woodshed at Fogg Allen Fieldhouse, 100-65. Jump City is in action as well this evening; they are up on Texas 34-28 late in the first half out there in Austin, Texas…_

Nathan looked over his team, waiting and ready to take the floor. Even though they hadn't even won a game yet…he was extremely proud of them. Proud enough that even if this was his last game, he would have no regrets about taking this job.

"Well…here we are boys. We've had enough time to prepare for this game. There are no excuses. Tristan and myself have told you what is necessary to win this game, and everyone has their own job. You all know _what_ to do and _exactly_ how you're supposed to do it."

Nathan looked over at Yami, then Seto Kaiba. Each had a capital C on their jerseys, signifying their status as Co-Captains of the team.

"SO LET'S TAKE CARE OF IT!"

_Welcome back fans, and here are the starting line-ups for tonight's game. For LSU it will be Minor and Mitchell at the guards. Bass and Lazarre at the forwards, and "Big Baby" Davis in the middle. For Domino City a different lineup than usual, Yami Mutou, Duke Devlin, and Joey Wheeler will be the guards, and Seto Kaiba and Malik Ishtar will be the forwards. They will play with no center. And here's the tip…_

Domino reverted back to the form that had put serious scares into both Duke and Kentucky. They pressed hard against LSU's guards, causing them to make silly mistakes. Seto and Malik couldn't do much to stop Bass or Davis, but as long as the other people did their jobs, they didn't have to.

Devlin dribbles, brings the ball into the frontcourt, he passes on the wing to Malik. Malik fakes the jumper, passes to Seto Kaiba wide open for a three ball that's nothin' but net! WELCOME BACK, SETO KAIBA! Coach Tim Brady of LSU calls time-out, with Domino City on top 66-58 with 2:49 to play…

As the game entered into its late stages, LSU began to take control of the game with it's inside play. Even with Kaiba's best efforts, he could not contain "Big Baby" Davis. Domino City wasn't hitting any shots or free throws down the stretch, and LSU was able to get the lead down to three.

Minor glides down into the frontcourt. He passes the ball to Bass, Bass can't shoot it, and he passes off to Davis, who kicks it back out to Minor for a three ball that's good. Colby will call his last timeout, and LSU has come back from eight points down to tie the game at 70 all.

Nathan looked over his players, the energy seemingly sucked out of them. The pro-LSU was loud, louder than 6,000 people are expected to be. They made it sound as if 20,000 were in the place.

"Listen to me…we can win this thing. We've got seven seconds to pull off a big win here, and here's how we're gonna do it…"

As Nathan broke the team huddle and sent his players on the floor, he heard the band playing the songs that he had heard in this same arena since he was a baby. If he didn't have a game to coach, he probably would have cried. As much as he wanted this place to be his home, he knew that it wasn't meant to be.

Seven seconds remaining, Domino has to go the length of the court. Devlin to inbound…he finds Yami…Yami streaks down the floor, passes off to Kaiba…fade-away jumper at the buzzer…GOOOOOD! I…LOVE…KAIBA! The Saints record their first victory of the season over the LSU Tigers, 72-70! My goodness what a game!

As soon as the buzzer sounded, the Domino City bench cleared, and everyone mobbed Seto Kaiba at mid court. The only people that were cheering now were the players and the few Domino City fans that were able to be in attendance.

While the team headed for the locker room, Nathan put an arm around Kaiba.

"Great shot. Aren't you going to smile, grin, or something?" Kaiba merely shook his head, and went back into the locker room with the rest of his teammates, who were celebrating as if they had won a world championship.

"He won't smile, coach." Nathan turned to see his assistant, Tristan standing beside him.

"Why not?"

Tristan pointed towards his heart. "He's more, um, internal with his emotions."

"I see…"

Tristan patted his boss on the back, and went into the locker room.

"Hell of a game…I'm impressed." Ishizu had appeared in the tunnel, and was making her way towards Nathan.

"Nice win, coach. You look tired…how about dinner? My treat."

Nathan looked at Ishizu as if she had come from another planet.

"Are you asking me on a date?"

Ishizu put her hand on her chin as if she were engaged in deep thought. "Well…I think so…"

"Give me ten minutes!" Nathan said as he heard the locker room chanting "DCU".

"OK…and Nathan?"

"Yes?"

"I lied about Pegasus firing you…" With an uncharacteristic wink of her eye, Ishizu departed, leaving Nathan stunned and excited at the same time.

_She asked me on a date? _

The Radisson Hotel  
Later That Night… 

Seto and Joey sat in their hotel room, Joey watching a boxing match on T.V., Seto reading a magazine he had found.

"Hey moneybags…ya played good tonight."

Kaiba didn't even look up from his reading. "Thanks, Wheeler. How's Mai doing, have you heard anything?"

"She had a concussion, but that's about it…the doc says she's gonna be fine." Joey flipped through the T.V. channels.

"That's good. Wheeler…about that…I want to apologize."

Joey waved his hand dismissively. "No need…I know ya didn't mean to do it."

With that, the two rivals ended their conversation, an unspoken truce sealed.

Meanwhile Yugi and Yami's Hotel Room… 

Yugi sat alone in the hotel room; his brother having headed out for a meal with Bakura, Duke, and Malik. (They were known as "The Three Amigos" since they were almost inseparable)

Yugi sat on his bed holding a picture that had the date 12-31-03 on the back of it. It was about two months before he got together with Tea. Who was on the picture, you ask? His current girlfriend, and someone who appeared to be a boyfriend, was hugged up, posing for the camera.

Yugi knew that snooping around in his girlfriend's apartment was a little on the extreme side, but he wanted to be sure. She had been acting strangely around him, not answering his calls, backing out of dates, sometimes being extremely irritable, things like that.

The inscription on the letter was what was bothering Yugi the most…

To my beloved Tea, now and always… 

_Bakura_

_December 31, 2003_

**Some serious issues ahead. Love triangles abound! Who will Nathan choose, Ishizu or Jessica? What about Serenity, Yami and Kaiba? Who will claim her heart first? And what about Tea? Does she still have feelings for Bakura…then again…did she ever have feelings for him to begin with? And how will the Saints handle success? They take on the Tribe of William and Mary next! **

**Well that's all folks…enjoy your night (or day) and see you next time! **

**BigLos…out.**


	18. A Day in the Life of Yugi Mutou, Part I

**A/N: **Greetings loyal readers. Just two quick announcements, **(1) **I've got a job interview coming up, and if all is successful, my update schedule will change. Probably not drastically, but it will change, just thought I'd let y'all know. **(2)** I've got some more fics coming up, such as Test of Friendship and Yu-gi-oh! Does Texas Hold 'em, and I would appreciate it if you give 'em a read. Oh yeah, Angry People will FINALLY BE UPDATED, as a matter of fact it should be updated by the time I'm finished here. Well…now for the thank-yous:

**The Broken Bow: **Yup, Yugi shouldn't have been snooping around in Tea's apartment, but you know how some people become irrational when love is an issue….anyway, thanks for reading!

**Anime Ruthless: **I have recovered from LSU's embarrassing first-round exit in the NCAA tournament, so thanks there. I wonder how messed up everyone's bracket is… The women are looking primed for a run to the final four, maybe more. William & Mary is a pretty good D-I school, I think that their football team made it to the I-AA National Semifinal, if I'm not mistaken. In any event, thanks for reviewing. (Yo...Nova gave UNC all they could handle, without one of their best players, they have nothing to be ashamed of.)

**Telecoi: **Hmm….I'm still deciding what to do with Tea as far as her, Yugi, and Bakura go. This could take a while…..thanks for reviewing.

**Rose Goddess 874: **Love triangles…crazy messes, aren't they. One of them will be cleared up soon enough, I won't say which one, you'll have to wait and see! HAHAHA!…..er…thanks for reading.

**Shy and LeighC: **Thanks for the review…and good luck with your updates, take your time.

**ML of the SS Merry Go: **Thanks for the review, and don't worry, Pegasus will get his eventually!

**Well, that's it for the mailbox…on with the chapter! **

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_By the way, the next two chapters arededicated to Anime Ruthless and The Broken Bow. You two have been with me since the beginning, and I appreciate it more than you guys probably know. Thanks a bunch! _

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_**Chapter 17: A Day in the Life of Yugi Mutou, Part I**_

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_The Saints are in front of a rather smallish crowd of 2,000 tonight for their home opener here, and most of them have already left. They are ripping apart the Tribe of William and Mary, 76-53 with 10:44 left to play in the game and its been the Duke Devlin Show here in the Domino Dome. He has 20 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists…_

Yugi hadn't been himself for nearly two weeks now. He hadn't eaten a full meal for almost a week, and his basketball game had dimished to almost nothing. Coach Colby noticed this, and pulled the sophomore out of the starting lineup.

"Ok...Justin, Timmy, Mako, Bakura, Yugi...all of you get ready. You're going in the next time-out." Tristan called out after Nathan gave him the signal to send them in.

Justin and Timmy, who hardly ever got any playing time, high-fived each other as they heard the news. Mako and Bakura seemed pleased enough, though not as excited as their teammates. Yugi...he just seemed...well, blank.

_Duke Devlin, Seto Kaiba and the rest of the starters are leaving the game now, and Coach Colby has decided to put in most of his bench. This crowd is really letting this team know how much they have appreciated this effort. OK...William & Mary inbounds the ball...Bell inbounds the ball to Sapp, Sapp dribbing on the left wing, looking for Tolliver under the basket, Tolliver goes up and...is slammed to the floor! Yugi just grabbed him after he went up and slammed him down to the floor, and Sapp gets in his face. The officals are breaking this up, and its almost certain they'll give Yugi an intentional foul...maybe even a technical foul.I don't understand it. Yugi just grabs Tolliver and slams him to the floor! I've never seen him act this way, he's always been a model student-athlete, and this is just a damn shame. _

Yugi sulked over to the bench just as quickly as he had left it, and the look on his face would have made Seto Kaiba look like a choir boy. Yami tried to talk to him, but was immediately stopped by Nathan, who by now had taken the seat next to Yugi.

"Somethin' you want to talk about, Yugi?"

Yugi did not reply, instead he gazed into the stands, as if he was looking for someone.

"Are you mentally OK? Is there something going on?"

Again, Yugi did not reply. He sat there and watched as the game entered the final minutes.

_Bakura throws the ball to a wide open Mako Tsunami for a two-handed throwdown! I give a lotta credit to these crazy kids sitting in the student section, I think they're all still here! Anyway, Tolliver throws the ball the length of the court, an air ball, and that's the end of the game. Domino City handles William and Mary 89-76 for their second win of the season. Domino has upped its mark to 2-3, William and Mary falls to 1-5 on the season. We'll be back with the postgame show after this update..._

As Nathan entered the team's locker room, he had a beaming smile on his face. His happiness was evident in the way he addressed his players.

"Great job! Every last one of you. Yami! Where is he? Nice ball handling today. You showed leadership today, son! Kaiba...good stuff out of you as always, great job man. And Duke? You keep playing like that, they'll name this gym after you!"

Duke mumbled something about a part of the student section already being named for him, which drew some laughs from everyone, save Yugi and Seto Kaiba.

"The backups, I'm proud of you all too. The trainer staff, Tristan, all y'all too. Now get the heck out of here, go celebrate this win, and I'll see you guys on Wednesday so we can get ready for Navy!"

After a quick meeting with some press that had come in after he had addressed the team, Nathan allowed everybody to leave, except for one tri-haired boy.

"Yugi...what is going on? You've been like this for two weeks now...I'm starting to get worried." The boy refused to speak, and looked up at his coach with a sad, pleading face.

"Yugi...with the way you've been acting, and what happened tonight...I've decided to suspend you, indefinitely. Clear out your locker, and don't come to practice until I say otherwise."

With that, Nathan left Yugi on his own.

As Yugi cleared out his locker, he saw a group of photographs that he had put up on the locker wall. Most of them were of himself, his brother Yami, and his friend Joey. One picture he did see caused tears to well up in his eyes. It was a picture of his girlfriend Tea, posing playfully on the beach.

_She always had potential to be a model..._

Yugi felt something inside of him, a fierce anger. Tearing the picture off the wall, he proceded to rip it to shreds, sobbing hysterically at the same time.

No one was there to comfort him.

**Meanwhile...**

**Domino Student Union**

Most of the basketball team sat at their own table, eating their team meal with a great deal of joy. Tristan and Nathan, along with some of the trainers, sat at a seperate table.

"Hey..anybody seen Yug?" Joey asked, looking for his best friend.

"Nope. Anybody else see him?" Malik put in, as confused as Joey.

Everyone down the row shook their heads, including Yami.

"Hey moneybags, you seen Yugi around?"

"The last time I saw the kid was in the locker room after the game." Kaiba returned his attention to the steak that he was eating, and everyone pondered on where little Yugi was.

At their table, Tristan and Nathan overheard this fuss as they ate.

"When are you going to tell them, Nathan?" Tristan looked into his boss's eyes, wanting the truth.

"Next practice. You take the night off...I'm going to look at some game film." Nathan excused himself from the table, leaving his players to continue their celebration.

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_Just a brief author's note, the next scene contains alcohol use, strong lanugage, and an extremely out-of-character Yugi! Readers beware..._

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**Meanwhile**

**Yugi and Yami's appartment...**

Yugi usually didn't drink alcohol. He never saw a reason for it. He was the straight-A student. Always quiet, always humble. A good little boy like himself should never get caught up in this sort of thing. Yugi knew what he was doing was wrong, but as he drank yet another shot of Jack Daniels, he felt a certain comfort.

_It just seems like everyone has turned their damn back on me. Grandpa...Tea...Coach Colby...even that excuse of a friend Joey. No one saw what I was going through...nobody gave a fucking second thought. Especially Tea...thatungrateful slut._

Yugi drank another shot, and continued to ramble on about how everyone was betraying him. He knew he was lying to himself, but the lie was the only thing that could comfort him right now.

**Meanwhile...**

**The Domino News...**

Nathan walked into the sportswriter's office. He was just following a hunch, but he had to make sure. Even though, for all intents and purposes, he had kicked Yugi off of his team, he wanted to see whether or not something more was going on.

"Hello...is Tea Gardener here?"

**Poor Yugi...what will become of him, and why exactly his he so depressed? Does Bakura have something to do with it...or is someone else tormenting the boy? Find out next time! **

**Before I go, here are MY Final Four pics...Illinois over Louisville, North Carolina over Mich. State, and I like the Illini to take the title. Original, no. Likely, yes. And another thing...If you like this fic, be sure to check out some of my other works. Who knows...you just might like what you read! I'm done...see ya! **

**BigLos...out.**


	19. A Day in the Life of Yugi Mutou, Part II

**A/N: **Welcome back loyal readers! Lots to get done here, so I'll immediately go to the mailbox:

**The Broken Bow: **Hope you got over that headache. In any event, thanks for reading and thanks for the compliments. You're right…Yugi out of character like this is a little disturbing.

**Anime Ruthless: **Thanks for reading, and don't worry, I can say with much assurance that the Navy will be sunk sometime in the coming chapters. And about that Nova game…you're right. No travel was involved, but I guess you get the benefit of the doubt when you're one of the elite of basketball.

**Shyly In the Dark: **Thanks for your compliment of my little OOC-ness with Yugi; I was worried I would get hate mail from all the Yugi-lovers of the universe. I'm extremely happy that you were able to update, and thanks for reading!

**Telecoi: **I agree with you a bunch about Yugi being OOC like this is plausible. How plausible, I'm not sure, but still it's possible. Anyways, thanks for reading.

There is something I'm about to write about that has nothing to do with Yu-gi-oh! Or this fic, so scroll down past the second horizontal line to get to the chappy itself. But if you dare, read on.

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_**Dragon's Lair**_

This is just where I'll ramble on about a couple of topics that have been pressing my brain from now on. Here we go….

_**I was two-for-two with my Final Four picks over the weekend, and I'm still taking Illinois to take the title. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. **_

_**Tough loss for the LSU Lady Tigers last night…but we'll survive down in Baton Rouge. Two trips to the Final Four in a row, not too many schools can say that. And guess what, they have the talent to get back. Great season girls…**_

_**Unless you've been in a coma or hiding under a rock, I'm sure you've heard by now that Pope John Paul II passed away. I'm not Catholic, but I have so much respect for the things that he stood for and what he tried to do with his papacy. No doubt that he'll be missed. Rest in peace….**_

That's it for my first installment of Dragon's Lair…if you read this babble I'm impressed! Now…ON WITH THE FIC!

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_**As I said last chapter, I'm dedicating this chapter to Anime Ruthless and The Broken Bow…but I've decided to take it a step further. Telecoi, Shyly In the Dark, ML of the SS Merry Go, Rose Goddess 874, Snow Weaver, and everybody else that has read this fic…THANK YOU!**_

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"**Playing sports has become very important today since it can encourage young people to develop important values such as loyalty, perseverance, friendship, sharing and solidarity. Sports, in fact, can make an effective contribution to peaceful understanding between peoples and to establishing the new civilization of love." _Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)_ **

**Chapter 18: A Day in the Life of Yugi Mutou, Part II**

"Hello, is Tea Gardener here?"

The secretary blinked at the coach and pointed him to a desk near the back of the room.

"She just finished her shift. Oh, and congratulations on the win tonight."

"Thank you, ma'am."

The secretary smiled warmly, and then went back to her computer to finish her work.

_Tristan told me she has know the kid for about five years now…I hope she can help me figure out what's wrong with him…_

**Meanwhile….**

**Yugi's apartment…**

Yugi had succeeded in basically drinking himself to sleep by this time, and was having a most unnerving dream…

_Yugi was running as fast as he could, attempting to escape his chasers. _

"_Get back here, you little twerp!" One of them called out._

_Of course, Yugi would not stop…he kept moving as fast as his little legs would take him._

_Until he tripped on an unforeseen obstacle on the pavement, of course. There weren't any streetlights in this area of the city, so the area was especially dark. _

_The men who were chasing him picked up poor Yugi and slammed him against the wall. _

"_Go easy Keith, Pegasus gave orders not to harm him." _

_The smaller of the two hissed back at his counterpart with displeasure. "I don't give a rat's ass what Pegasus "ordered"…anyway... YOU! You go to the police about this little investment going on at the school, and I can promise it won't end well for you, kid. Or your brother…or your grandfather…or even that hot reporter chick I see you hangin' around with. You got that!" _

_Yugi had unfortunately stumbled in on one of Pegasus's business meetings, and had heard some interesting conversation, conversation by now he wish he had never heard. _

Yugi woke up from his short slumber with that image, of one of Pegasus's lackeys holding him up by the collar, on his mind. Deciding to question the reality of his situation later, Yugi grabbed his letter jacket from the closet and groggily made his way out of the apartment.

**Meanwhile…**

**Tea's Desk, The Domino News…**

Nathan and Tea sat at her workstation, silent for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Nathan told her why he had come.

"Tristan told me that you know more about Yugi than anyone else on this earth besides his twin brother. He's been acting odd lately, and I was wondering if you could help me figure out what the hell is going on with him."

"I'm not sure either. Yugi's been acting strangely with me also…you see…we're dating, and I think he thinks that I've been cheating on him. I've been really busy lately and I just went through that woman's time of the month…"

Nathan raised an eyebrow (**A/N: **The Coach's Eyebrow! Umm..Nevermind) "PMS?"

Tea blushed slightly. "Yeah…but I still love him! I'm afraid that if-"

Nathan heard his cell phone go off, and he quickly responded to it. "Colby, here…Miss Ishizu, what's wrong? …Are you serious…I'm on my way, right now!"

Nathan jumped out of his chair and grabbed his coat as quickly as he could. "Get up, I'll give you a ride?"

Tea's sapphire eyes revealed nothing but confusion. "What's going on?"

"Yugi's in the hospital. He's in pretty bad shape."

Tea gasped audibly, and grabbed her jacket to follow him.

_Yugi…what have you done to yourself? _

By the time they arrived, most everyone was there. Duke, Malik, and Bakura sat in a corner quietly playing cards, their usual good-natured ribbing of each other silenced. Joey appeared to be crying, with his girlfriend Mai trying to comfort him. Yami and some of the other players were crowed around a doctor, asking him questions about Yugi's condition.

"Tristan, where's Kaiba?"

"I've tried reaching him on his cell, but I haven't been able to get through, Coach."

"Dammit…how's Yugi?"

Tristan shook his head. "No news yet."

The short silence between the two was pierced by a shrill cry from Yugi's longtime girlfriend. "YUGI! Oh, my God! Please, get up! Please!" Tea ran to the window separating her from her beloved, and began to pound on it.

"Wake up! I'm sorry for all those mean things I said! Please, just get up and be alright!"

Mai and Yami came over to try to console her, but Tea pushed them away and stormed out of the hospital.

"Tristan…you watch everything here. I'm heading out."

"To bring back Tea?"

"No…to find Kaiba. He needs to know what's going on here."

"But you don't have any clue where he could be coach! Looking for him in this city could be like looking for a needle in a swimming pool."

Nathan removed what was left of his baby-blue tie, and threw it into his pocket. "I'll just have to try. And Tristan, it's a needle in a haystack."

The brunette shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, just be careful, OK?"

With a nod, Nathan ran out of the door and back into his car, his search for Kaiba about to begin.

**Meanwhile…**

**Downtown Domino City…**

Seto Kaiba was a little nervous. Well, most people are on their first date. Serenity, in her spaghetti-strap pink dress, was a little nervous as well, but had carried on most of the conversation.

"…Joey's always been like that, a little overprotective at times."

She's got that right… 

"Seto…why did you hate my brother so much?"

Kaiba looked up, a little surprised. He had almost spilled his drink on his white dress shirt.

"Well?"

"Remember that state final a few years back…"

**2003 New York State Basketball Final**

**Domino East vs. Domino West**

**Madison Square Garden **

_Welcome fans to the 2003 basketball championship of New York. This is the pinnacle of high school basketball in the state, and tonight, two schools less than five miles apart will vie for the championship. This is the moment some of these boys have been dreaming of since they were toddlers, a chance to bring home the title and all of its glory to their families, their neighborhoods, their team, and their school. Leave the training wheels at the door, people! We've got the Cougars and the Paladins; We've got Domino East vs. Domino West, and we've got it next! _

**What happened in this title game that got Kaiba all riled up with Joey in the first place? And what about poor Yugi? What cruel fate befell the little one, and will he ever recover? How is Tea dealing with all of this? Find out next time. **

**Thanks for reading peeps. One quick question…the name change. Do you like? Do you hate it? Are you indifferent? Let me know. See you later, gotta go watch the national championship game. **


	20. Brothers in Arms

**A/N: **Hey loyal readers, welcome! It's a RAINY, RAINY day here in the Southeast, and here's the product of my boredom. Hope you like it…anyway, mailbox first, then the Dragon's Lair…

**The Broken Bow: **I was trying to stir up memories of the old "People's Eyebrow" (via The Rock)…then I realized how much the idea sucked. Some questions will be answered in this chapter, while others will wait for an answer…Thanks for reading friend!

**Anime Ruthless: **Thanks for reading, and you were dead on with your UNC pick! Nice. Why don't you like Illinois anyway? Just asking….

**Telecoi: **Don't worry…Little Yugi has at LEAST another chapter of life in him, so don't worry…yet. Glad you like the name change, and thanks for reading!

**Shy and LeighC: **You two are crazy! Anyway, thanks for reading, and good luck with the updates!

**Jmeg: **New reader! Welcome, and thanks for reading. Like I said earlier, don't worry. Yugi will not die, at least not yet anyway. I hope you continue to read.

Below this line lurks about two or three min. worth of randomness I like to call…the Dragon's Lair!

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_**What do Roy Williams, The Baylor Women's Basketball Team, and Tiger Woods all have in common? They all won their respective championships in the last week and a half. Roy, he's been working at this for a long time, and he was WAY past due. Congratulations. Tiger, very emotional time in his life with his marriage, his father's illness and his critics' constant ramblings stating that he's already past his prime. Shut up! The guy's 29, and already has more majors than most people have WINS on tour! You go, Tiger! And what can I say about Baylor? The Athletic Department as a whole has been in the wilderness for almost a quarter century, and the tragic murder of a player (followed by a cover-up) on the Men's Team gave them an even bigger black eye. I hope this stunning victory by the women keeps the healing process going at the school in Waco, Texas. **_

_**You will rarely hear me speak about my political views here, but I have to get this out…. Bill O'Reilly is an Ahole. Really. I can't stand the guy. It's not because of his political beliefs; I have respect for values when the aim is to better our communities and our nation as a whole. But when you TRAMPLE over other people's time to speak, when you call out the Pope days after he died for his role in the War on Terror, I lose respect for you as a human being. Is he always wrong? Absolutely not. Is he likeable? Well…. not from where I sit!**_

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That's all for that. Now on with the fanfic, and if you're a sports fan, you should enjoy this one pretty much!

"**In my entire adult life, I have never used the term 'game-face'. I have no goddamn idea what it means or what you're supposed to do." Bobby Knight, former basketball coach at Indiana University. **

_**Chapter 19: Brothers in Arms**_

_These young men are only moments away from the biggest game of their lives! What could be going through their minds right now?_

_**Domino East Locker Room…**_

Joey lay asleep, in his green and white jersey and warm-up suit, his head cocked against his locker.

"Mai…lips…so soft…" He rambled on in his sleep, leaving little doubt of what he was dreaming of.

"That's our captain…" Duke spat out sarcastically as he tied up his sneakers, ready for action.

"Are you ready, Yugi?" Yami asked, stretching his limbs.

"Of course! It's only the biggest game of our entire lives!" Yugi smiled as he half-joked with his twin brother.

At this point, one of the assistant coaches came into the locker room. His blonde hair was in a buzz cut, and his blue eyes had intimidated players for nearly twenty years of coaching.

"Goodness gracious…WHEELER!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat!" Joey was shaken awake by the man's massive hands.

"The biggest game of your life, and you fall asleep 10 minutes before tip-off? What are you thinking? GET YOUR TAIL UP RIGHT NOW, YOU LAZY SLACKER!"

The entire locker room burst with laughter as the blonde jumped up with a start and began his stretching exercises.

**_Meanwhile…Domino West Locker Room_**

"POP, POP, POP, POP, POP! That's what I want, all of you around that ball! You will press ALL NIGHT!"

Seto Kaiba, and his brother Mokuba, sat patiently as their coach gave them and their teammates a long-winded, emotional speech before game time.

"I can't coach you anymore, men. This is your time to showcase what you have learned as athletes. YOU are the defending state champions; it's THEM that have to take it from YOU! Remember that when you step out on that court tonight…"

Well ladies and gentleman…here we are! Let's go to the PA for the starting line ups… 

_**Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 2003 New York High School Basketball Championship. Introducing first, the starting line-up for Domino East High School, coached by Gerald Goodman…**_

_**At center, a junior standing 6'8'', Hugo Morris**_

_**At small forward, a senior standing 6'4'', Ryan Woods**_

_**At third guard, a sophomore standing 6'4'', Duke Devlin**_

_**At shooting guard, a junior standing 5'5'', Yugi Mutou**_

_**At point guard, a junior standing 5'10'', Joseph Wheeler**_

_**And now, the starting line-up for the defending state champions, Domino West High School, coached by Tony Gaines….**_

_**At center, a sophomore standing 6'10'', Joseph Orion**_

_**At small forward, a senior standing 6'6'', Robby Quinn**_

_**At power forward, a freshman standing 6'8'', Yogi Davis**_

_**At shooting guard, a freshman standing 5'8'', Mokuba Kaiba**_

_**At point guard, a junior standing 6'4'', Seto Kaiba**_

_These Domino West Paladins are a very, VERY good basketball team, people. Rumor has it that five of their players have already signed Division I letters of intent! **(1)** These rivals have played three times this season, Domino West crushing Domino East in the first meeting, 108-79. In the second meeting, Domino East stunned them on the West side of the city, 89-84. In the final game of the series, Domino West came from behind on Domino East's home floor 79-76 to spoil Senior Night for the Cougars and clinch the District championship. Seto Kaiba has been big in all of these games, scoring at least thirty points in each outing. _

_Domino East in it's green jersey, they are the visiting team, Domino West in it's white and purple home jerseys… There's the tip and this one is underway!_

Flashback To Be Continued…now in the present… 

As Nathan sped down the streets of Domino in his Ford, the upcoming tussle with Naval Academy slipped further and further down the priority list. First, he silently prayed that something could be done for little Yugi, whether he played basketball again or not was far from relevant. He wanted to make sure he was _alive_ first. Soon his thoughts turned to Yugi's twin brother Yami, and Nathan hoped that the boy wouldn't have to relive the painful fate that had befallen him more than a decade earlier…

Flashback 

_**1992 Football Season**_

_**Glenmora High vs. Holy Savior Menard High**_

_**Ratliff Stadium**_

_First down and ten yards to go for the Glenmora Wildcats, they have the ball on the Menard Eagle 36…Nathan Colby under center, his brother Mike lined up as the tailback in the Maryland I formation…Nathan calls the signal and tosses the ball out to his brother on the sweep play to the left side…Mike breaks a tackle, turns the corner, IT'S A FOOT RACE! Down the sideline he comes, He's to the 20, 15,10, 5, that's a Wildcat touchdown! The LSU commitment with his third touchdown of the day, and the Wildcats lead is now 41-18 with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter. _

Nathan smiled as he went to the bench. His brother, an All-American in both basketball and football, was his idol, and Nathan treasured the time they spent together, on and off the field. On his way to the bench, he could hear his brother joking with their head coach.

"You're gonna let me kick the PAT this time, right coach?" Mike had green eyes like his younger brother, but his muscular, lean build and his blonde hair, medium length, made him the envy of all the males on campus and every girl's dream date.

"Not this time, son."

"Hey, you promised! Pleeeeeeeeze?"

"You've done enough. Go on and sit down on the bench, save your strength for the playoffs."

"You were awesome out there, Nathan."

Nathan sat down next to his long-time friend Chris as they watched the final seconds tick away.

"Me? I didn't do anything! All I did was give the ball to Mike, and he scored."

The redhead shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. You didn't fumble the ball, and you didn't get hurt…good enough for me."

Nathan laughed. "Uh-oh! Menard just scored…Wilkins is gonna blow a gasket!"

"Yeah right, that old fart keeps on screaming like that, he'll wind up in the morgue."

_After the game…_

"Hey, Mike! Me and Jessie were gonna go out for a while, let me use your car."

Nathan knew that he was facing an uphill climb, but decided to surge on anyway.

"I'll fill it up after I'm done…so you gonna-"

"Sorry little bro…got a date tonight." Mike was combing back his blonde locks, making sure that every strand was neat and in order. He had on his "Glenmora Football" T-shirt, blue jeans, and his Letter jacket, adorned with patches displaying numerous honors.

"C'mon…Mom said that we were supposed to _share _the car, remember?"

"Take it easy, kid. You and Jessie can go and make out somewhere else. Doesn't she have a truck or something?"

The younger Colby quickly frowned. "It's not like that…me and Jessie aren't in that kind of relationship."

Mike restrained a laugh. "Horse shit! I've seen the way she looks at you, she wants it _bad_. You know it, and I know it! You better get her now before some 6'2'', blue eyed mountain of muscle sweeps her off her feet!"

Nathan rolled his eyes at his brother. "Whatever…just be careful, OK?"

"Always little bro…see ya!"

With that…Mike Colby walked out of their shared bedroom to the Volvo that they shared.

Nathan would not see him alive and well ever again….

_End of Flashback…Meanwhile…in Downtown Domino_

Serenity slid her fork around the spaghetti that had been served to her minutes earlier. "I remember that game, I was in the pep band that year, and we came to the game. I think Tea was a cheerleader too, I'm not sure…"

"No wonder she's so stupid…" Kaiba muttered under his breath. He had come across Tea several times, and found her to be nothing more than a nuisance.

"I heard that! She's my friend, and you shouldn't make fun of her." Serenity had put down her fork, and was shooting Kaiba a steely glare.

"Whatever…"

Kaiba took another sip of his drink as he reminisced more on the championship game of years past.

_It's been all Domino West so far, they lead early on here in the second quarter 23-10…Carlos Smith **(2) **has come into the game for Mokuba Kaiba, and he will get the ball in the half-court set. He dribbles, OH! A KILLER crossover on Yami Mutou, he blows by and lays it up and in! The Arkansas signee, who was benched in favor of Mokuba at the beginning of the season, having an impact off the bench…_

_Smith with the steal…he and Seto Kaiba running on the break, Smith throws it off the backboard…and Kaiba slams it home! What a fantastic play by the senior! Coach Goodman calls time-out, his Cougars down 38-20…Seto Kaiba and Carlos Smith have as many points as the entire Cougar squad combined at the moment, and Domino East just can't get anything established right now on the offensive end. _

_**(1) Letters of Intent are just papers saying that a player has committed himself to play for a college or university on an athletic scholarship.**_

_**(2) Carlos Smith is just an OC version of lil ole me, who can play basketball a helluva lot better! **_

**Well, that's it people. I think this one is a little longer than some of its predecessors, and I hope you enjoyed it. Anyway, thanks for taking time out of your day (or night) and please leave a review on your way out! Off to update more fics, I'm out! **

**BDB…out **


	21. Awakening

**A/N: **Welcome back again readers! A quick look at the mailbox and I'll get the fic going again:

**The Broken Bow: **Thanks for reading, and as far as that Carlos Smith fella goes, I could probably beat em. . John Cena, pretty good wrestler, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for his rapping yet. The world suffered enough with rappers trying to be wrestlers or wrestlers trying to be rappers. The Macho Man, Master P, K-Kwik, Konnan, and others have beaten that idea to death. He's a pretty good rapper, but I'm not sure he has an audience.

**Anime Ruthless: **Sorry for the slight confusion, I hope that you understand fully what was going on. Bill O'Reilly…too liberal? Those are words I never thought I would hear uttered in the same sentence. It's not really his political views that necessarily bug me (I'm a left-leaning Independent, by the way) its more or less the way he treats people. Back on topic, thanks for reading and enjoy the chapter!

**Telecoi: **HAHAHA! Yugi's fate will be revealed in this chapter…so here's your answer. Thanks for reading!

**Snow Weaver: **No need to apologize…just keep reading! Anyway…thanks for sticking with me and reading, and good luck with your stories.

**Shy and LeighC: **Thanks a bunch for reading you two, I'm glad you like it. Enjoy the chapter!

Now, a quick bit of randomness called the Dragon's Lair, and on with the fic!

* * *

**_What is a J-Rocker? I've read this term in YGO fanfics over and over, and I have no clue what it means! Someone please inform me! _**

**_Football season...so close, yet so far. I'm practically counting the time to Two-a-day practices. Anyway, I looked at LSU's schedule I noticed two things of relevance. One, nearly all of the big games are in Baton Rouge. Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, and Arizona State all visit the Tigers. Two, What in the blue hell is Appalachian State doing on the schedule? No offense to them, I'm sure they are a fine university, but can't LSU find a more suitable opponent to thrash in front of nearly 100,000 people? Oh well, nobody (besides myself and some overzealous OSU fans) thought Oregon State could play with LSU last year. The final score? Oregon State 21, LSU 22 (their kicker missed THREE extra points)._**

**_Just another question, does anyone think there is a slight bias against males who love female anime characters? Hear me out on this. It just seems that if a guy is ga-ga over a female character, becomes a "fan-boy" if you will, he's shunned as nothing more than a pervert and a loser who can't get laid. I don't know, maybe it's the Pepsi talkin'..._**

**_I was looking through a copy of Shonen Jump for about the hundreth time when I came across this letter to the editors talking about if YGO were ever made into a live action film that Sandra Bullock would play the role of Tea Garderer...it gave me a little interesting thought. If you could cast one person to be your favorite character, who would it be?  
_**

* * *

**That's all for that...now on with the fic! **

**_Chapter 20: Awakening_**

_The Domino East Cougars are down, 47-28, at halftimeand the Paladins appear on the fast track to another state championship. We'll be back with you after this brief station break._

"WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT FIRST QUARTER? TEN TURNOVERS? HELL NO!"

Seto and his brother Mokuba sat side by side. If you were just listening to the assistants talk and hadn't seen the game going on, you would have thought that they were the ones losing. Mokuba, holding his head down, chose to attempt to tune out these harsh voices of criticism. His older brother, on the other hand, almost embraced them, as if he was using the anger and frustration as energy.

"Do you all realize they did not miss a three pointer in the first half? That is ridiculous!"

Yugi, Yami, Duke sat with the rest of their teammates as they reviewed their strategy and made adjustments for the second half. Their coach pointed out the mistakes, but was more calm and encouraging than harsh.

"Now...listen to me, men...we have plenty of time to get back in this game. We just have to stay focused and chop into that lead little by little. Anyone care to say a few words?"

Everyone looked around, waiting to see who would stand on the proverbial soap box and take a stand. Joey, who appeared to be very, VERY angry, stood up to speak. He gulped hard, and proceeded to speak...or yell, be that as it may.

"WHAT'S WRONG WIT YA? DESE BUMS ARE NOTHIN! THEY BLEED LIKE US! THEY SWEAT LIKE US! THEY AIN'T GODS OR MACHINES...DEY HUMAN, JUST LIKE US! THEY WENT THROUGH TWO A DAYS? WE WENT THROUGH FOUR A DAYS! THIS IS OUR TIME, THIS IS OUR TITLE, LETS GO GET IT DAMMIT!"

Yugi looked at his best friend as if he were possesed. Joey usually treated basketball as a secondary pasttime in his life, and hardly behaved as if he genuinely cared about winning.

"Well said, Wheeler..." The coach knew after that little rant, nothing else he could have said would matter.

_Joey Wheeler has come out in the second half and scored eight straight points! They've tried putting Seto Kaiba on him, Mokuba Kaiba, even Carlos Smith...no one can stop him right now! Here he is again with a steal! He passes it to Devlin on the fast break for an easy layup! It's now Coach Gaines who calles timeout, with 5:50 to go in the third quarter, Domino East is within 10, 50-40..._

Mokuba and Carlos were getting a harsh talking to as they came to the bench during a timeout.

"Sir...We can't.."

"I hate the word 'can't'. Don't you dare use it around me! Look at me...I'm seeing the floor. SHOW ME SOME HEART!"

_After the blowout in the first half, we've seen a basketball game break out in the third period. We head to the fourth quarter with Domino West still leading, 62-56._

The players weren't aware at the time, but several college and pro scouts were in attendance. One of them, a dark-haired man of medium height, wore a blue polo shirt with khaki pants with a logo of a Jayhawk on both. The other, a redhead standing near six feet tall. He wore a midnight blue shirt with blood red trim, the words "Ole Miss" written across the front.

"You think they can come back and win it, Nathan?"

The Kansas Jayhawk assistant shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, Chris...basketball is a crazy game."

_

* * *

_

_Back in the present..._

_Domino City Hospital_

Yami sat alone, waiting for news of his twin brother's fate.

_Why didn't I notice something was wrong with him sooner? Maybe I should have paid more attention...said something to him..._

He noticed that Tea had come to sit by him, but did not speak.

"Yami...you know it's not your fault for what happened right?" Tea reached over and gave the young man a hug.

"What would make him do that to himself? I mean, I've never seen him like this before..." Yami couldnt' help it. He broke down and cried. He felt as if it was his personal failure that landed Yugi in the hospital, and he didn't know how he would survive without him.

"Excuse me, are you Yugi's brother?" A woman in her mid thirties adressed the two. "Come with me, please."

* * *

"Um...Seto...even through all of this talk, I still don't see why you hated my brother so much."

Serenity and Kaiba had left the restaruant they were dining in, and were taking a stroll in the downtown area.

"If you don't know by now, you haven't been paying much attention, have you?"

Serenity put her hands on her hips and made a pouty face. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

Kaiba looked down on her, a slight smile on his lips."I say what I mean, you should know that by now."

_Damn, she's so cute when she's angry._

"Whatever...hey...isn't that your coach's car?" Serenity pointed to the blue Ford that had just passed them and now was making a crazy turn through busy traffic, much to the angst of fellow drivers.

"Kaiba, Yugi's in the hosptial! You two get in, and I'll get you two over there!"

Serenity and Kaiba hurridly got in the vehicle, and the three raced to the hospital.

* * *

"So you see, Yami, the alcohol poisoning is minimal to moderate at worst, and he should pull through. We'll have to hold him here for about a week or so, just to make sure there is no permanent damage to his nervous system." 

Yami breathed a slight sign of relief as the doctor told him the good news. Even though his brother would recover, he knew their relationship would have to chage drastically in order to prevent something like this from happening again.

**HA! You didn't think I would kill off little Yugi, did you? Next time, Yami and Nathan sit down for a long talk about all things Yugi, plus Nathan reveals something to him about his past that Yami can fully relate to. Plus...The Midshipmen of Navy come calling! Can the team pull together and get another victory? Or will the Middies pull off the upset? Find out next time!  
**

Well, that's it from me people. If this chapter leads to me getting to 100 reviews, I have a little something planned to say thank you. Take care!

BDB...out


	22. Life Goes On

**A/N: **To be honest, I never thought that this fic, or anything I wrote for that matter, would ever gain any degree of popularity. My first attempts at writing fanfics were pretty weak, and I decided to can them last summer. I came back during the fall with a Teen Titans fic and a Street Fighter fic, and as of now have left both unfinished. Then…as the coolness of winter set in, I decided to try my hand at some YGO fics…. and I finally found an audience. You people have supported me when very few others have, whether it's writing or anything else I'm going through. I don't know what else to say except THANK YOU for your praise and your criticisms, your coolness or your craziness, and just for being you. I haven't hit triple digits in the review column yet…but I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this fic so far…

_**The Broken Bow**_

_**Anime Ruthless**_

_**Sapphire Rose Kitsune**_

_**Telecoi**_

_**Shyly in the Dark (and LeighC)**_

_**Snow Weaver**_

_**Jmeg**_

_**Rose Goddess 874**_

_**ML of the SS Merry Go**_

_**Chaos Magician Girl**_

_**The Future Mrs. Kaiba**_

_**Chii 576**_

_**Princess Chaos**_

_**The Mystic Goddess**_

_**Wolffie**_

_**Autumn Oak**_

_**Zelda-Jewel**_

_**Seto KaibaX (who still holds the shortest review on record) **_

_**So…whether you have reviewed every chapter since the beginning, or you read and review every once in a while, or if you just come in to stop by and leave a little note of encouragement…thanks. **_

_**I love all y'all. **_

**_NOW ON WITH THE DAMN FIC!_**

****

****

**Chapter 21: Life Goes On**

Nathan Colby was tired. He had just coached a basketball game little more than ten hours ago, suspended one of his players, went on a speeding binge around town trying to find his star player to tell him that said suspended player was in the hospital, and he had to find a way to console his players and tell them that everything would be alright. He hadn't even had time to think about sleep, much less attain it. He sat down near a table full of magazines, next to Yami Mutou…Yugi's twin brother.

"How's he doing?"

Yami looked over at his coach, his face pale and tear-stained. "He'll live…at least that's what the doctor told me."

"I see…you know, I was in a situation much like yourself. Almost fifteen years ago. I had a brother, William Michael Colby…heh; everybody called him Mike because he hated his first name. Well, he was a star athlete when we were in high school, he was 18, and I was 17. I skipped a grade when I was younger, so I was able to catch up with him academically, but never athletically. He did things on a football field that no mortal man will probably ever do again."

Nathan picked up one of the magazines, smiling slightly, and continued."

"Anyway, we had beaten our hated rivals in a big-time football game that night…and he went out to party afterwards…I was with my girlfriend when I heard. A guy driving an 18-wheeler fell asleep at the wheel and hit him head on…he didn't stand a chance in hell."

Yami didn't notice that the coach had put the magazine over his face to hide the tears that were coming down.

"First I didn't believe it. You know, they say denial comes first. Then I saw the body…or what was left of it. Then I knew Mike wouldn't come home again. He wouldn't be there to tease me about my girlfriend anymore. He wouldn't be there at football practice, helping me work on my mechanics. He wouldn't be at our graduation to receive his diploma and accept his scholarship to LSU. He wouldn't be there to grow old with me. But…as it does when anyone passes away…life goes on. Hell, I remember, we had a football playoff game four days after my brother's funeral…"

_**Flashback**_

_**1992 Louisiana High School Football Playoffs**_

_**Glenmora High vs. John Curtis**_

****

_Allister takes a knee, and that will do it. The John Curtis Patriots have defeated Glenmora High 21-10 to advance to the second round of the state football playoffs. _

_**End of Flashback**_

"You have to move on…as much as you might not want to, as much as you want to change things, you have to move on. I felt so empty when, for the first time, I put on my football uniform without my brother sharing the locker next to mine. The hurt came back when basketball season, when I did the same thing for basketball. It was like a part of me died. Um…I know this doesn't have anything to do with your brother, but I just wanted to say this: take advantage of this opportunity God has given you to mend your relationship with him. If you don't help him, I promise you you'll live to regret it."

By this time, Yami himself was in tears, stunned into silence.

"I'm going to bed…just remember what I said, OK?"

Nathan got up from his seat and walked away, unaware that someone had heard the entire conversation, and was in tears as well.

Ishizu had heard everything.

_**Meanwhile…**_

"So…how did it end?" Serenity asked, hugging on to her semi-boyfriend.

"You should know, you were there weren't you?"

"Yeah…but I want to hear your version of things."

_**Back to the past… **_

_**2003 New York High School Basketball Championship**_

15 seconds to go…Domino East leading 78-75, Mokuba Kaiba dribbling the ball down the sideline…he passes to his brother Seto on the wing…finds Smith at the top of the key…three pointer for the tie? YES! We are tied at 78…the Cougars will inbound the ball, no timeout. Devlin…blazing by defenders passes to Yami Mutou…He pump fakes, shoots, no good…WHEELER TIPPED IT IN! JOEY WHEELER WITH THE TIP IN AT THE BUZZER GIVES DOMINO EAST THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP! I DO NOT BELIEVE IT!

_**End of Flashback….**_

_**Back in the present….**_

"So…is that why you hated my brother? Because he tipped in the winning shot?"

Kaiba put on his trademark smirk once again. "No…it's because he made me question myself as an athlete. All my life I had been trained to excel at two things: running a corporation and playing basketball. Wheeler made me question myself, and my beliefs. He pushed me to a level I had never been pushed before in my life. Did I want to play this game? Did I actually enjoy doing it? Why was I doing it? He made me look into my soul and ponder if I was doing what I wanted to do with my life. At the time, I guess I was angry at him for it."

"Have you found it?" Kaiba noticed that her beautiful brown eyes were looking up at him, looking for an answer.

"Maybe, maybe not."

They didn't know it, but Joey had heard everything.

**_Meanwhile… _**

"I swear Keith, if I find out that you had anything to do with Yugi-boy's little accident tonight, I promise you that you will see my REAL nasty side!"

Pegasus slammed the phone down, his anger fuming towards his assistant.

_Damn that fool! I have enough problems with Odieon and the damn FBI breathing down my neck with these investigations…maybe a nice glass of wine will help me unwind…_

As Pegasus sipped on his $500 wine, he pondered whether or not to proceed with the next step of his plan.

_**Several Days Later…**_

_Well…at halftime we still have a basketball game on our hands here at the Domino Dome, Domino City leads Navy, but the lead is only one, 33-32. We'll be back on the Domino City Radio Network with our halftime show after this…_

**_Life goes on, but will it ever be the same?_**

**Not a long chapter…but not too short I guess. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time, with the mailbox and Dragon's Lair back in full swing. **

**BDB…out.**


	23. Challenges

**A/N: **Hey peeps, welcome back! Glad you decided to spend some time reading this, and here's some answers to your reviews (AKA the "mailbox"):

**The Broken Bow(I'm assuming it was you): **Thanks for the review. No, Peggy didn't have his little Funny Bunny comics with him. Hey, did you ever get all of your work done? I know this can be a really stressful time for anybody with finals and papers and projects and all that other crap…so I hope you got all that wrapped up.

**Shy and LeighC: **Glad to see that you updated one of my favorite stories. Thanks for stopping by, and I appreciate all hugs and giggles. Don't worry, Yami and Yugi will pull through, but the real question is will the team.

**Anime Ruthless: **Thanks for the props, man. Let's be honest, Navy sucks at college basketball. I don't think they were any good since David Robinson left. The football is good though, they went 11-1 I think, with the only loss to Notre Dame (who is second in my football allegiance only to LSU). Thanks, and I hope you continue reading.

**Telecoi: **Breathe easy, my friend, Yugi is resting in the ICU ward and will be out in a chapter or two. By the way…someone will be arriving in this chapter that I'm sure you'll be happy to see (you know who I'm talking about). Thanks for reading.

Well, that's all the mail, so here's a little bit of randomness real quick.

_**True story. I was in this Trig class last fall at LSU. I wasn't feeling all that well one afternoon and decided to skip it. What the heck, who needs trig anyway, I said. Well, the next class, the lady begins her lecture by talking about this very big guy that came to spy on her class. THE GUY WAS SHAQ! I MISSED OUT ON MEETING FREAKING SHAQUILLE O'NEAL IN PERSON! The moral of this story, go to class, get your education, and who knows, maybe a big-time celebrity will come by and speak to your class. Or…maybe you might end up being the celebrity.**_

_**On a sad note, Former Saints and Panthers linebacker Sam Mills passed away. I'll remember him for three things mainly: One, He was a stalwart on the very talented Saints defenses of the early 1990s, and was a multiple time All Star (or Pro Bowler). Second, he wasn't very big. Standing only about 5'9'', and less than 230 lbs, this guy played linebacker. If you don't know the average size of these guys, go pull up a roster somewhere. They're pretty darn big. And finally, this quote, describing his life with cancer of the small intestine: "You have your good days and your bad days. I am just glad I am having days, you know." We should all be grateful to be alive, no matter how crappy our lives may be. Godspeed, Sam…**_

A quick warning, **_this chapter does contain alcohol usage and sexual references._** Please be advised. Enjoy the chapter, friends.

**Chapter 22: Challenges**

_Domino City is pulling away, late here in the second half, they lead Navy 77-60.Devlin driving into the paint, passes it to Fairchild under the basket for an easy layup! The crowd is loving this, and so are the Army Vets watching in the stands. _**(A/N: The two academies, called Army and Navy, have a pretty intense rivalry when it comes to sports. That's why some of the old Army grads are there, to cheer against their rivals) **

As Nathan watched the game from his seat on the bench, he was quite pleased that his team was able to pull away from an inferior opponent, but his focus was already elsewhere.

_We were able to beat these guys, but they aren't really that good. Arkansas comes here pretty soon, and if we play like this, they'll run us out of the damn gym._

Seto, Yami, and Joey were already out of the game, and as time expired, they got up to congratulate their teammates.

_That's the end of the ballgame, your final score, Domino City U 80, Navy 64. Let's send you now to Raven Gutierrez with some scores of the day's action..._

_Thank you, Jimmy. We'll start out with the killing machine that is Jump City University basketball. In non-conference action this afternoon, the Titanscrush Mississippi Valley State of the SWAC 117-39. Ouch. Also, Kansas, North Carolina, and Texas breezed to easy home wins. And DCU's next opponent, the Arkansas Razorbacks, defeated Utah 65-56 in Fayetteville. Saffron State was also a winner on the road this evening, they stunned Villanova 86-84._

After dismissing the team, he noticed a familar, raven-haired woman waiting for him near the exit. "Good job...how's Yugi?"

"Everything's fine, Ishizu. He'll be out of the hospital, and I plan to have him back by the time we play Harvard."

Ishizu nodded her head, and approached the coach cautiously. "Are you OK?"

"I'm alright...Look, I have to go study some tape, I can't enjoy these wins like the playersdo."

"Do you mind if I come and...study some tape with you?"

Had the young coach not been in excellent shape, that statement would have probably sent him into cardiac arrest.

"Um...the apartment...um...well.."

"Don't worry. I can make you something for dinner as well...Malik says I'm a pretty good cook."

With a slight smile on her face, Ishizu left, leaving Nathan with a heart pumping as fast as it ever had.

**_Meanwhile..._**

"Bakura...come on man! Live a little!"

Duke and Malik were dragging a kicking and screaming Bakura out of the locker room.

"Let me go, you Ra-damned fools!"

"NO! You're going out with us tonight, no but's about it!" Malik said as he and Duke threw him into the back seat of Duke's car.

"I don't want to behave like a drunken fool in public...we could be suspended for that you know."

Duke nodded his head in agreement as he started the ignition. "We could...so that's why we're going to a frat party!"

"YEAH! Listen to me Bakura, if I have anything to say about it, you're going to get drunk tonight. You're going to cut loose tonight. And maybe, just maybe, you're going to get laid tonight. And we're gonna kick some Razorback ass, but not tonight, so just chill already!" Malik said as he pulled out a small bottle of Captain Morgan's and took a small sip.

Bakura, realizing that resistance was useless, fixed his wrinkled shirt and checked on his hair. _I miss the good ole days...when Ryou would stay over in London with our mother and I wasn't dragged to some damn frat party._

**_Domino City Hospital_**

Yami walked into the room, his brother waiting for him, sitting up.

"Hey, did you guys win?"

Yami nodded his head. "We played like crap...but they weren't that good. They played hard though."

Yami sat down in a chair next to the hospital bed. Yugi had made a full recovery, and was expected to be out of the hospital by that Sunday. "Yugi...I talked to Tristan. Coach says he will let you back on the team after you get out. And Tea...Tea's really sorry...that you found out about you-know-what the way you did. She says that-"

Yugi waved a hand dismissively. "I don't care. If she has something to say, she can say it to me."

Yugi still had hard feelings against Tea after what had happened, and decided that he would simply avoid the subject for the moment.

"Hey...how's Joey doing?"

Yami laughed a little at the question. "He's with Mai right now...what do you think?"

Yugi laughed as well, knowing full well what the couple was probably in the middle of right now.

"Um...Yugi...I'm so...so sorry that I wasn't able to see that-"

"Yami...I made a mistake...you're my brother, not my father. I can take care of myself."

"THEN WHY YUGI? WHY WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO THROW AWAY YOUR LIFE THAT WAY?"

Yugi frowned a little, then turned away. "I was frustrated. It seemed like everyone was against me...I guess."

"How can you say that? When we heard you were hurt, everyone rushed here and waited on the news about you. And you know that when you manage to pull Coach Colby away from the film room, Kaiba away from his laptop, AND Joey out of Mai's appartment, something called "caring" is involved. We care about you Yugi, and no matter how tough things get, we'll always be ready to help...we'll always be there."

Yugi turned to his brother and teammate, and smiled. He knew he was right.

**_Kaiba's Bedroom..._**

The brunette tossed and turned in his sleep, a cold sweat slowly pouring over his body. The physical pain may have healed, but the mental scars were still deep.

_"SETO! Hurry up..."_

_The young basketball player ran as fast as he could, trying to finish his fifth mile of running for the day, his father pushing him. He fell to his knees with about 50 feet to go, exhaustion taking its toll on the twelve-year old._

_"Gozaburo...please...I'm tired. My legs hurt so bad."_

_The CEO of Kaiba Corps responded by kicking his adopted son in the stomach. "Now your stomach hurts. So what? Finish the damn mile."_

_Setokeeled over in pain, tears welling up in his eyes. "Please, sir! I'm...too...tired."_

_Gozaburo kicked him again, and Seto could hear the sickening crunch of one of his ribs being cracked. "You're weak, Seto...just like that runt Mokuba. I should have left you bothin the gutter where I found you. NOW MOVE!" _

_Seto could see him raising his leg up again to kick him..._

Kaiba nearly jumped out of the bed, his heart racing. "Old bastard...even now you won't let me live a normal life..."

**_Nathan's Apartment_**

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Nathan was cleaning his apartment at the speed of light, preparing for the arrival of his guest. _This is going to suck so badly...I don't have anything to cook, no music, no candles...not even a friggin' flower! How am I supposed to win her over with nothing but basketball game films and old episodes of 'Dukes of Hazzard'!_

In the middle of his frantic cleaning, he heard his telephone ring.

"Hello, Coach Nathan Colby speaking...how can I help you? You're kidding right? It's you? Jessica...it's been a while...yeah...uh-huh..."

**KNOCK! **

Nathan heard what he thought was his guest outside his door, knocking to see if he was there. _This is just brilliant. A woman asks to come over to my apartment, and I'm on the phone with my ex-girlfriend from high school. This is just fucking great! _

_**Domino City Airport**_

Ryou looked around, anxious to get his tenure at Domino City University started. So anxious, he arrived more than two months early to settle in. However...the education in Domino wasn't the only thing on his mind when he enrolled. So was Tea...

**Somebody call JR, because buisness just picked up big-time! How will Nathan handle this one? And what does Ryou want with Tea? Also, The Arkansas Razorbacks come to town for the biggest home game of the year! Who will come out on top? Find out next time! **


	24. Hog Wild

**A/N: **Hello readers, I'm back from my NFL Draft weekend and better than ever! (so I hope) Lots of fanfics to update, so I'll try to keep the rambling to a minimum today. Here's the mailbox:

**Anime-Ruthless: **"STONE COLD! STONE COLD! STONE COLD!" Yeah…those were the days…anyway, thanks for reading, and Sam Mills was indeed a well-respected person. Carolina (or New Orleans) won't be quite the same.

**Telecoi: **I did actually mention Gozaburo briefly in one of the earlier chapters, though he never actually made an appearance until last chapter. Thanks for reading!

**RoseGoddess874: **Thanks for reading, and I'll be sure to check out your fic as soon as I'm done with all these updates and helping my little bros with a science project.

**LeighC: **Thanks for checking up on the story, and send my regards to the shyness highness.

**The Broken Bow: **Thanks for reading, and don't worry about reading this nonsense…just get what you need to get done, well…done! Good luck with your finals, by the way.

I think that covers everybody who reviewed…so on with the fanfic!

**_Chapter 23: Hog Wild_**

"I didn't want to bother you or anything. I just wanted to let you know that I would be in town to watch your team play later this week. That's OK with you right?"

"Um...sure Jessica. Look there's someone at the door, I really have to answer it."

"Fine. I won't keep you waiting. Bye."

"Bye."

Nathan hung up the phone and rushed to the door as quickly as he could. _That was a little too close for comfort._

"I was thinking you wouldn't answer. What were you doing?" Ishizu asked, a little worried by her friend's odd behavior. "This came for you today, from a Chris Ruth."

Ishizu handed him a manilla folder full of papers. Nathan pulled out the first one and began to glance over it. "A scouting report? When did he have time to put this together? Oh! Come on in!" He ushered Ishizu inside, and closed the door behind him.

"So, what does it say?"

"Well...it says that they are undersized, like us, and that they love to run up and down the floor. They prefer a more up-tempo style, and they use man-to-man defense almost exclusively."

"Something like the 40 Minutes of Hell?" **(1)**

Nathan glanced up at her, a little surprised and a little impressed. "You know about that defense?"

Ishizu nodded. "I played basketball in high school, so I know a lot about different defenses and such. Nolan Richardson made that famous back when we were growing up."

"He made it famous alright, his team ran us ragged in that championship game a while back. I was sore for days!" Nathan looked back down over the rest of the scouting report. "They have two shooters, Smith and Bowser, and they tend to struggle when a team runs a slower pace. That's a problem for us. We like doing the same things they do in the game, but they're bigger and more athletic than us. How can we neutralize their speed?"

Ishizu grabbed a piece of paper and drew something that resembled a basketball court on it. "Maybe if you do this..."

**Mai's Appartment**

"Mai...what do you think about gettin' married?"

The beautiful blonde laying next to Joey immediately sat up. "Are you serious, Joey?"

The boy looked up at her and smiled. "Nope. Just kiddin."

In a fit of mock-anger, Mai grabbed a nearby pillow and bounced it off Joey's head. "That wasn't funny, Joseph Wheeler! I actually think it would be a nice idea. Think about it...our own house. You get your law degree and open up your firm, I finish med school and start practicing. Then we would live happily ever after."

Joey just lay still, and listened as Mai told him of her hopes and dreams for their future, not omitting a single detail. She even went as far as to choose the high school their children would attend. Joey knew that he had a very special woman in his life. He made it his duty to make sure that she had everything she wanted.

**November 18, 2005**

**University of Arkansas at Domino City University**

_Domino City, in nearly 75 years of college basketball, have failed to achieve three milestones. They have never won a national championship. They have never participated in the National Invitational Tournament. And they have never beaten a Top 10 program on their home floor. They are 0-14 against Top 10 teams all-time at home, and the tenth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks are the visitors tonight. Will the Saints pull off the upset and have a winning record for the first time in five years? Or will the Razorbacks, with their "40 minutes of Hell" defense, end the Domino win streak. We'll find out, after these starting lineups._

**_Welcome ladies and gentleman to tonight's game. Here are the starting lineups for the visting Arkansas Razorbacks (ranked 10th in AP poll, 5-1 record) _**

**_At center, a Junior standing 6'8'', Grant Beasley_**

**_At small forward, a Freshman standing 6'5'', David Tyler_**

**_At power forward, a Sophomore standing 6'7'', Allen Shaw_**

**_At shooting guard, a Junior standing 5'11'', Carlos Smith_**

**_At point guard, a Senior standing 6'1'', Zachary Bowser_**

**_And here are the starting lineups for your Domino City Saints! (not ranked, 3-3 record)_**

**_At small forward, a Freshman standing 6'4'', Duke Devlin!_**

**_At power forward, a Sophomore standing 6'5'', Seto Kaiba!_**

**_At the third guard, a Freshman standing 6'1'', Malik Ishtar!_**

**_At shooting guard, a Sophomore stading 5'11'', Joseph Wheeler!_**

**_At point guard, a Sophomore standing 5'9'', Yami Mutou!_**

_Those are the starting lineups, and we're moments from tip-off. There was an interesting article in newspapers today about Carlos Smith and Seto Kaiba. The former teammates at Domino West, it's been said that Smith tried to convince Kaiba to come with him to Arkansas, but Kaiba refused and opted to attend DCU so that he could better run his company and take care of his brother, Mokuba. These two weren't really that close as teammates, and there are rumors of a little bad blood between the two. We'll keep an eye on that as we watch this one unfold. And here is the tip-off, controlled by Tyler. He'll pass it over to Smith on the wing and he'll bury the three pointer with little hesitation. Arkansas up 3-0 and will immediately go to that full-court pressure defense. Wheeler recieves the inbound pass, dribbles down the right side of the floor, gets caught in a trap and dribbles the ball off his foot...Arkansas ball. I don't think you can fault Joey for that one, he got caught in a bad spot on the floor and none of his teammates came to help him out. Arkansas now with the ball, Smith running the offense now as he will do from time to time, excellent screen by Tyler to free up Bowser, who drains a three pointer of his own. Arkansas up 6-0..._

After a few more three's, the few hundred fans of Arkansas, clad in their school's crimson and white, were cheering louder than nearly 5,000 fans for Domino City. With their chants and pig-calls, they cheered as their team went up 21-8 to start the game.

Nathan decided to call a timeout to calm down his team, especially Joey. It was his job to stop Bowser from being a factor in the game, and so far he wasn't getting it done.

"Hey Joey...Bowser's got ten points already. You going to do something about that?"

Chocolate-brown eyes met dark-green, and Joey nodded his head. "Yes,sir."

"You sure? Good, we need you to stop him because if they score more points than we do, we lose the games, you understand that?"

Again, Joey nodded his head in understanding. He was slightly offended that the coach was talking to him like he was a toddler, but thought it best to keep things like that to himself.

"Alright."

Serenity who was in the stands conducting the band, tried to keep the spirits of the crowd up. "Hey! You guys have the sheet music for that song we wrote?" After checking with everyone who was on the same page with her, she got the band going with the school's new fight song.

**D...C...U...Domino City U!**

**Fight on, Sons of Domino**

**For alma mater fight!**

**Spirits ofthe Saints in you, **

**Sons of Domino, Fight on, Fight on!**

**Fight on for the blue and grey**

**Inside our hearts you'll stay** **(Go Saints!)**

**Whether win or lose**

**We will always choose**

**To for ever shout our great rally cry:**

**DO-MI-NO!**

The fans actually liked the song, according to the applause and cheering, and they got back into the game some. As the fans woke up, so did the team they were cheering on.

_Arkansas with the ball, less than thirty seconds remaining in the half. Bowser with the ball, dribbling at mid court. He'll pass the ball to Tyler on the inside...ripped away by Seto Kaiba! He passes the length of the court for Yami Mutou to lay it up as time expires! This has been a close, physical game as we have finished the first half, with Arkansas on top, 32-25._

**Uh-oh! Can the Saints come back and win the biggest game so far of their season? Or will the Hogs hold on and pick up the win. Also...are Ryou and Jessie in attendance? Find out next time! **

**(1) 40 minutes of Hell: A defense that became popular in the mid-90s in college basketball. It emphasizes relentless full court pressure and fast break offense. Nolan Richardson used that style to lead Arkansas to a National Title during his tenure there.**

**Well, thats all for now, you all take care! OH...I posted a new story called Killer Looks. It's a little short, but when have you known me to write long ones? **

**BDB...out**


	25. Marching in a New Era

**A/N**: Welcome back readers, and thanks for spending part of your day (or night) with me! Here's the mailbox: 

**Anime Ruthless**: Thanks for the compliment. Every game, I try to have at least one sidestory to the game, to make it a little more interesting to the reader.  
The problem when the Saints is that they aren't on their game more often. When they play to their potential, they can be one of the 10 best teams in the league on a consistent basis, but I think they sometimes care more about what's going on down on Bourbon Street rather than on the football field. Thanks for reading!

**Shy and LeighC**: Thanks for the support. Shy, I hope you can get your stuff up soon!

**Telecoi**: Joey proposing to Mai?...it could happen. Thanks for reading!

No idle rants, just some good fanfiction up ahead, boys and girls. Enjoy...

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_**Chapter 24: Marching in a New Era**_

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_Hello, friends and welcome backto the Sports Shack here on the DCU network, this is Mimi Hines along with my co-host Ken Lucas, and we just had a heck of a finish in the Domino Dome!_

_That's right Mimi, it was a close game throughout and it got closer with this play right here: _

**_XX_**

**_10:21 to play here in the second half, Arkansas up 44-41, Domino City with a chance to tie. Wheeler dribbles down the right side, and will pass over _****_to Seto Kaiba. Kaiba, working on Smith, passes the ball over to Devlin. He takes the three over Bowser for the tie...YES! We're tied at 44!_**

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_That was Jimmy Garnet on the call for the DCU Sports Network. Domino City went on a 7-0 run to lead by seven with about five minutes to play. The tenth-ranked Razorbacks wouldn't go down that easily, and stormed back with a rally of their own..._

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**_Hogs with the ball, 3:39 left, down by two. Smith sends the ball into the paint to Tyler, he tries to shoot over Kaiba...misses, but the rebound is tipped out to Bowser. Bowser dribbles a little, crossover dribble gets him open...he takes the three...GOOD! Hogs back up 53-51 with about three minutes to go._**

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_That was Oliver Lawson for WIBL in Little Rock, Arkansas on the play-by-play. The two teams traded baskets after that, and then probably the most crucial play of the game took place..._

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**_Arkansas up by two, trying to strech out this lead. Shaw with it...he'll pass over to Bowser. Bowser blows past Joey Wheeler and takes it to the hoop. Kaiba gets in his way and...THEY CALL A CHARGE! Oh...that's huge! Bowser has to leave the game with his fifth foul, and Coach Lambright can't belive it. The leading scorer for the Hogs has to come out..._**

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_Zachary Bowser left the game as its leading scorer with 23 points, but it was his defense that kept Arkansas in this game. He stole the ball four times in the second half, all of those leading to some easy baskets for the Razorbacks. Domino City was able to take the lead on a circus shot from Duke Devlin with 10.5 seconds left. Coach Bobby Lambright doesn't call time out, and he lets his team play it out._

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**_They won't call a time out. Domino City up 60-58. Bowser is out of the game. Smith with the inbound pass to Tyler. He glides down the floor quickly...passes over to Coutee...five seconds...he passes over to Beasley...pump fakes...passes over to Smith...gets a good look...NO GOOD!...put back by Beasley no good...THAT'S IT! SAINTS WIN!_**

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_So Domino City wins it 60-58 and there was a huge celebration afterwards. The fans stormed the court had themselves a good time. We're happy to bring in the coach of the Domino City Saints here on The Sports Shack, Nathan Colby now joins us via telephone. Coach, has it really sunk in yet that you beat a Top 10 team?_

**_:laughs: Not really, Mimi. I guess in acouple of hours it will all set in, I guess._**

_In the first few minutes of the game, Arkansas really took it to your team. How did you get them to respond and make such agame out of it?_

**_I just said 'Hey, there's still a lot of time left, so let's concentrate on chipping into this lead a bit.' This is a young ball team, but they're really mature and know how to handle situations like this._**

_Coach...this is Ken speaking...how big were the contributions of Bakura, Duke Devlin, and Mako Tsunami tonight?_

**_They were all great tonight. Bakura stepped in and gave Joey a breather every now and then, and played his butt off. Mako stayed out of foul trouble, and was able to keep Beasley from dominating inside. Duke...man, he did it all! He played defense, he helped Seto out with scoring, he got other people involved. I'm proud of these guys. _**

_Coach, there were some people that follow basketball that really were stunned when you took the DCU job. They though you would probably take over the job at Kansas when Coach Hadley retired or head someplace with a bigger, more prominent program._

**_Yeah...I love the University of Kansas, they were so good to me for so long, but I needed a change in my life and decided to come out here to get into coaching. I'm not really one to love the spotlight, so I figured something like this would enable me to do something I love, coaching, and do it without all the glitz and glamour of some of the bigger schools._**

_Coach, one of the biggest wins in school history tonight, you should be proud. Have a good night and thanks for joining us._

**_Thank you guys for having me, I just want to thank the university and the community for comming out and supporting us tonight, and I just hope you all continue to do so._**

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Nathan looked over at his clock, and noticed that it was already two in the morning. He tossed his jacket over his chair and flopped on top of the queen sized bed. He gave both his players and Tristan the day off tomorrow, and figured that he deserved at least a little break.

_This is a pretty good gig: coach basketball, talk aboutbasketball, teach basketball, then sleep. I want to keep doing it as long as I can..._

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**_Two days later..._**

Nathan heard a knock at his door as he looked at some game tape of his team's next opponent, the Harvard Crimson. "Come in."

The young man entered, a little nervous as he took the seat across from his coach's desk. His clothes were the team's designated colors of grey and blue, and his hair was his usual spiky mess. "Good morning, coach."

"Good morning. You're doctors are OK with this?"

Yugi nodded. "They gave me a letter clearing me to play. They say I'm physically able to play."

Nathan glared at Yugi. "Are you prepared _mentally_?" His dark-green eyes demanded an answer of the young player.

"I'm sober. I have some issues, yes, but I'm ready to concentrate on basketball now...if you let me."

Yugi was a little worried. His coach didn't respond for what seemed like an eternity. Then he spoke, and Yugi knew he was home again.

"Welcome back. I'll see you at practice."

Yugi smiled, and extended his hand. "Thank you, sir."

Nathan took it with his firm grip, and smiled back. He was happy to have Yugi back.

**YUGI'S BACK! And, for the first time in five years, Domino City has more wins than it does losses! Can this team stand prosperity, and is Yugi truly ready to play basketball again? Find out next time.**

**A little pressed for time again, so a tad shorter than usual. My bad. Hope you enjoyed it, and leave a review on the way out, eh? Thanks for stopping by.**

**BDB...out**


	26. Joey's Time

**A/N: **Hey peeps, responses to your reviews are at the bottom of the chapter. No rambles this time. Hope you all enjoy!

**Chapter 25: Joey's Time**

**Press Conference: Carlos Smith of the Arkansas Razorbacks: **

"**Personally, I think they could be one of the best shooting teams in the country. If they can shoot the ball well on a given night, they can beat just about anybody in the country, including Jump City."**

Charlie: Hey there people! You're live with Chris and Charlie here, Metro 8 Sports all the time. It's time to take some of your phone calls about today's topic: The Domino City Saints. This was a team that just a few weeks ago got over 100 points dropped on them by Louisville at Freedom Hall, now they're a potential Top 25 candidate. Let's welcome Shawn, what do you think?

**Shawn: I love the way that they've been able to come together since Seto Kaiba came back; he's been a spark all season. I don't see a reason why they can't win the Metro 8 Charlie.**

Chris: Settle down my friend. They still have a long row to hoe. Before their HUGE game with Gonzaga over the weekend, they finish up home non-conference with Grambling State, the best team out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Then they have the grind of the Metro 8 conference regular season with all of its pitfalls…

Charlie: Come on, Chris. Drink some of the Kool-Aid here! They're 10-3, they won the Christmas Classic Tournament at Notre Dame, they just pummeled Mount Union by 60 last night, they're playin' with spring in their step. This team is HOT!

Chris: Ladies and Gentleman, please excuse my colleague here, he's had a wee bit too much caffeine. Here's Makoto on the hotline…Makoto, what do you think about these kids?

**Makoto: First of all, I just want to say that Seto Kaiba is the HOTTEST guy on the planet! That being said, it's going to be pretty tough for them to win the Metro 8 this year. It's going to be difficult.**

Charlie: Even though I'm happy with this team, I'll have to say I agree. They open up Metro 8 play at Lazarus Polytech, who has really come on strong in the last few weeks. Then there's always the Big Three of the Conference to contend with: Jump City, Saffron State, and Viridian College.

Chris: That's what I'm talking about. You and I both know that this conference usually gets only one team in the NCAA tournament every year. The last time we sent more than one was 1980, when Saffron State and Domino City both earned invites.

Charlie: Let's bring on Troy. Troy, what's on your mind?

**Troy: Hey…where's the love for Duke Devlin? He helped pull the slack while Kaiba was suspended, and he and Yami have helped him carry this team all year. This guy's gonna be an All-American before he's done, I guarantee it!**

Chris: You may be right, Troy. This Duke is as good a player as I've seen in a long time. Let's talk to our old buddy T.K. on the line. T.K., how've you been brother?

**T.K.: I'm doing fine, gentleman. I know this team is the cute, feel-good story of the year so far, but come on! WIN THE METRO 8? Not a chance in Hades! They're just too many good teams in this league, and I think they'll eventually fade out as we head towards conference tournament play. You guys take care, all right? **

Charlie: Will do, T.K. To tell you the truth, I think they can beat the Titans.

Chris: You think they can beat the Titans? That's like saying an ant could crush an elephant!

Charlie: Yeah, if Domino City doesn't beat them, I see the Titans running the table. Well, thanks for listening to our Topic of the Day segment; we'll be back after these messages.

**Domino Dome**

**January 2, 2006**

**Pep Rally**

Nathan stood in front of the crowd of students that had gathered in the arena for the school's first pep rally in nearly a decade. He just stood at mid-court, hearing the chants for his team and his colors. After a five-minute standing ovation, he was finally able to speak.

"I just want to thank you all for coming out tonight for this quick little pep rally. I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we have to play yet another school from Louisiana whose nickname is 'The Tigers'." (A/N: Grambling State and LSU are the two schools in Louisiana nicknamed the Tigers. If you recall, they faced LSU in a previous chapter.)

For about twenty seconds, the crowd booed him in mock-disapproval.

"The good news is we'll have a nice Stuffed Tiger collection going pretty soon! Anyways I'm just here to thank you so much for welcoming me to this city, to this university, to your family. I'm blessed. I just hope that you all will continue to come out and support these fine young men. Um…Joey. Didn't you say you had an announcement to make?"

Joey nervously stepped in front of the crowd, taking the microphone from his coach before giving him a hug. Before he left to go a seat, Nathan left Joey with two words of advice: Stay Calm.

"How ya's doin' tonight?"

Someone shouted a compliment, which was followed by applause.

"Thanks…um…Mai…could you come down here please?"

As a confused Mai made her way down to the arena floor, Seto Kaiba and Yugi sat side by side.

"Fifty bucks says Wheeler chickens out."

Yugi frowned at his teammate. "You know we're not technically supposed to gamble."

"Oh…so you're a chicken too?"

"No…just don't like to gamble money. Make it fifty wind sprints and you have deal."

It was Kaiba's turn to frown. Yugi knew how much Kaiba hated the coach's conditioning program, especially the wind sprints. "Alright runt, you have a deal."

Now that Mai had joined them on the floor, he held her hand as he continued to speak. "Mai…there's something I would like to do for you, a little sign of appreciation, I guess. Hey…tune up da band!"

The band, conducted by his sister Serenity, began playing a song that he had chosen for her, and they began to dance a little.

Suddenly, some of the other band members stopped playing and began to sing a song for the two lovers.

Heeeeeey... Hey Baby! I wanna know…Would ya be my friend?

Heeeeeey…Hey Baby! I wanna know…Will you be my girl?

Before the last part of the song came on, Joey dropped to one knee (much to the crowd's approval).

Heeeeeey…Hey Baby! I wanna know…Will you marry me?

Mai pulled Joey up off of the floor as he pulled out the ring he had gotten her. Her answer was swift.

"Yes…I'll marry you Joseph."

**What kind of a sap am I? Writing such fluff…anyways with more than half of the season behind them, Domino City prepares for two very crucial games. First, can they survive the Grambling State Tigers in their final non-conference home game? Then, the Bulldogs of Gonzaga welcome them to The Kennel. Even if they survive, will the grueling Metro 8 schedule derail them? Or will something else stand in the way? Find out next time!**

**Now for the reviewers: **

**Telecoi: **Thanks for the props. Personally, I think my attention to detail sucks (maybe its because I'm my own worst critic) but I'm glad you think it's pretty good.

**Shy and LeighC: **Thanks for the review, and I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. Y'all take care, OK?

**Anime Ruthless: **Glad you like how I structured the games and such. I try to keep it interesting yet realistic in a way. Thanks for reading.

**Malik and Kaiba: **Keep it up I will! Thanks for reading friends.

**The Broken Bow: **OMG, you updated! Gotta go check it out whenever I finish things I got to finish. Thanks for reading.

**The Mystic Goddess: **It's been a while to hear from you. Whenever you catch up to here, I hope you like what you've read. Thanks for reading.

**Before I blast of at the speed of light (via Team Rocket of course) I just want to say this…I guaran-damn-tee there will be at least one super plot twist next chapter. If you paid attention early, you may have seen this one coming (HINT HINT!).**

**BDB…. out**


	27. Stunning Revelation

**A/N: **Hey peeps, thanks for stopping by. A mega-rant coming up after I answer the reviews I got:

**Anime Ruthless: **Thanks for reading. I was thinking about writing a prequel to this fic, as soon as I'm done with this one. (In case you were wondering, it's going to be about 6-7 more chapters, possibly 9 or 10 if I get more reviews) Let me know what you think.

**LeighC: **You're welcome and I promise to take care of myself. See what I wrote above and let me know what you think of my idea.

**Two reviews…well that's how it started, so I don't mind if that's how it's finished. Big time rant coming in three…two…one…**

_**I was visiting the profile of a fellow author, Pirate Monkey (If you're a Ryou/Serenity fan I recommend "Run". It's going to be pretty good I think.) Earlier this week. I agree with most of the things that he or she (not sure of gender but thinking a she) said about Christianity. The only thing I slightly disagree with is about how the Christian religion has been spread. True, many Christians of the present don't attempt to shove their religion down the throats of non-believers. Let's examine briefly how it spread in the past though. Through conquest. Enslavement. Forced conversions. There are so many terrible things that people have done "in the name of God" that it overshadows the work that good Christians do. Do I really have to tell you more? Email me or leave a response in your review. I FEAR NO CHALLENGE!**_

_**Another thing…it makes me sick how people are using their religion these days to push their agenda. From Islamic Fundamentalists to the "Christian Right", it appalls me how these people use their religion for political gain. There was one incident here in the USA where some members of a church were kicked out of their church for not voting for George W. Bush. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! Not that I'm a big fan of either of the two candidates for the 2004 election (John Kerry was the other candidate, for those who've already forgotten), but it's pretty sad when a religious leader attempts to use his/her congregation as puppets to push the political agenda he feels is right. I could say so much about the Israel/Palestine conflict, but I don't really have enough time to describe how I feel on that issue. **_

_**On a lighter note, the American Idol competition is wrapping up this week. Not that I have anything vested in the outcome, but I'm hoping Bo Bice is the winner. Each year (at least in my view) the person with the best overall performance has been able to win the show. I just hope the tradition** **holds up.**_

O.K. Rant over. Now on with the fanfic!

_Chapter 26: Stunning Revelation_

_The following is a Metro-8 Conference Sports Moment: _

_Trailing 26-7 at halftime to the heavily favored Alabama A&M Bulldogs in the 1985 Division 1-AA National Football Championship, the Gotham Catholic Crusaders rallied with three second-half touchdown passes from senior quarterback Johnny Boudreaux. A last-second score by fullback Roger Stafford proved to be the difference as the Crusaders prevailed 36-35 to claim the school's first ever National Championship in any sport._

_The proceeding has been a Metro-8 Conference Sports Moment; let's send you back to your ball game…_

_This has been yet another rout by Domino City, as they are taking Grambling State to the woodshed right now. With about 2:00 left to play, they lead 88-53. We'll be back right after this._

Nathan was very pleased with what he saw from his team. They were playing the game, as one wise coach said, "the right way". Suffocating defense. Patient offense. Overall balance. He had already put in his bench to stop the worst of the rout. He only said two words when he sent them in, two words that he hoped that they held on to and utilized not only in basketball but in life: Finish strong.

_Chang takes the pass from Yugi and throws it down hard! This had been a complete and total massacre. _

When the final horn sounded and the arena began to clear out, the two teams shook hands as the band played a song called "The Bells of Saint Mary's" (A/N 1). Nathan went over to shake hands with the opposing coach, a son of one of his father's assistants.

"Good game, Abe."

"Well done, Nathan. Good luck against Gonzaga."

"Thanks."

After their conversation finished, the two coaches headed their separate ways. A few fans stuck around after the game to thank the young coach for what he had done to turn around the basketball program, and he showed his appreciation for them. When he finally made his way through the corridor and into his team's locker room, he told them.

"I am so proud of you all tonight. You played smart, you played with passion, and you played as a team. Guess what? I love you guys so much…. NO PRACTICE TOMORROW!"

For about a nanosecond, there was an awkward silence in the room. They had practiced at least once a day for nearly six months and this announcement was a bit of a shock. Suddenly, Joey let out this huge whoop that was echoed around the room by everyone (save Kaiba, he was already doing some work for his company.). The entire locker room burst into singing the school's old fight song, with nearly everyone singing at least a little off key…

_Domino University, defenders of the gray and blue_

_We will always faithful be; our hearts are loyal, true. _

_All for one and one for all, we have the will to win for thee_

_So we'll, fight, fight, fight, fight…until we gain the victory…SAINTS!_

The celebration was cut short, however by a knock at the door. A man stepped inside, middle-aged and wearing a police uniform.

"Nathan James Colby?"

"Yes…how can I help you, sir?"

"You're under arrest for grand larceny, bribery, and obstruction of justice."

No one in the room moved or spoke as the officer moved to bring Nathan under his custody.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you are unable to afford one, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights?"

"Yes…Tristan. Call my family. They can get you in touch with my attorney. You're in charge of the team until I get out."

With that the officer left the room, Nathan Colby in tow.

_**XX** _

**XX**

**XX**

"It's been taken care of?…Good. Excellent. I'll schedule the press conference for tomorrow."

Pegasus smiled in his dimly lit office.

_Hmmm…the plan is working perfectly. Those fools have no idea of what we've been able to accomplish. Sorry Colby-boy, but SOMEBODY had to take the fall. HAHAHAHAHAHA!_

**Sorry had to stop it there, people.**

**Author's Note 1: "The Bells of Saint Mary's" is a song played by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Band of Notre Dame University at the conclusion of football games and the like. It has a very soothing sort of sound to it, I guess. If you want to hear it for yourself, go to Fight Music (dot com of course), look under Major Independent School, then look for Notre Dame. If you have WMP or something similar to that it shouldn't take that long for it to play.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, folks. Take care.**

**BDB…out**


	28. The Worst of Times

**A/N: **It's been a while, sorry for the long delay! No rants or responses just yet, you'll find that at the bottom. Enjoy!

**_Heart of the Hoops_**

**_Chapter 27: The Worst of Times_**

**_The following is a Metro-8 Conference Sports Moment: _**

_On September 2, 1950, Jump City University played in it's first intercollegiate game of any kind when they visited Lincoln, Nebraska to tussle with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the season-opener for college football. The game was rather uneventful, a 84-3 whipping by the powerful Cornhuskers. This game however, will be forever remembered for what happened in the stands. A young buisnessman, Bobby Campbell, penned the famous Titan fight song "The Black and Gold" while watching the game unfold in the stands._

**You have your Big Red and your Big Blue**

**Your Sooner Cream and Irish Gold**

**We'll take our dear old alma mater's **

**We'll take our dear old Black and Gold!**

**There are so many other colors**

**But these we'll surely fight to hold**

**There are no colors like the Black and Gold!**

**You take your burnt-up Texas orange**

**Your Bama red and Navy Blue**

**We'll take our dear old Black and Gold, sir!**

**For us they're handsome, tried and true! **

**So Titans young and old will wear them**

**As our men promise not to fold**

**There are no colors like the Black and Gold!**

_The song was adopted as the official school fight song in 1956...three days after JCU beat Viridian 77-68 to claim their first Metro-8 Basketball Championship._

_**The proceeding was a Metro-8 Conference Sports Moment. We'll now send you back to your broadcast...**_

_Hello people, it's Chris and Charlie here on the Sports Shack. We have all hands on deck tonight as Ken Lucas joins myself and Chris doing all the hard stuff. The beautiful Mimi Hines is producing tonight, she's got all the controls behind the glass. Even our intern Cody is in the house getting some work done! Well, we have some serious breaking news coming out of Domino City. The coach, Nathan Colby has been arrested._

_Yeah, very serious charges against the rookie coach. If they are true, he'll probably not only lose his job but will be facing some prison time. _

_All that I know, Ken, is that they scheduled a press conference at DCU tomorrow morning. I don't know if Pegasus is going to give him the "vote of confidence" or fire him on the spot, so it's just going to be pretty interesting to see what happens._

_Meanwhile, Tristan Taylor is in charge of the team and will take them out west to suit up against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. If they want to get one of those At-large bids into the NCAA tournament, this is a must-win. If they don't,I don't know if they can get into the tournament by ousting reigning champion Jump City. _

_Yeah, those Titans are on a roll indeed. They're 13-3 with the losses comming against Kansas, UCONN, and a surprising home loss to Vermont. Since that loss to Vermont, they've soared into the top 25 and currently hold the number 16 spot._

Nathan sat alone in his jail cell, completely baffled. He knew that he was innocent of the charges against him, but did not know who would set him up like this...or why.

"Mr. Colby."

He looked up from his cotempations to see a prison guard standing in front of him.

"Someone's posted your bail. Come with me, please."

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as the guard unlocked the door and escorted him to the processing area.

"Excuse me officer, but do you know who bailed me out?"

"Not sure there, kid, but I do know that she's a pretty good lookin' lady."

Nathan smiled internally. _I definitely owe Ishizu big time for this one. This is the second time that she's come out to help me after I've gotten in some deep trouble. And this policeman is right, she is a very pretty woman. _

After Nathan finally filled out all of the processing papers, he walked out of the jail free to do buisness. When he stepped outside to greet his savior, he encountered a suprising and for the most part unwelcome sight.

"J...Jessie?"

The redhead put her hands on her hips and gave him an arrogant smirk. "I think the words you're struggling to find are 'thank you'."

**_Ryou/Bakura's Apartment: _**

Bakura was finishing up some homework for his Advanced Calculus class. He didn't have much spare time because of basketball, so whatever time he did manage to scrape up he used to keep his GPA up to his own lofty standards.

"Hello, Bakura. Nice game tonight."

"Don't bother me right now. I have a great deal of work to get done..." Bakura did not look up from his work as he continued to work what most college students would have considered a very difficult problem.

"Heh...I'm just trying to be nice."

"Why start now?" Bakura's voice had a cold, bitter tone to it...a tone not lost on his twin brother.

"You're not still mad about _that_, are you?"

"Let's analyze...you single-handedly screwed up my lovelife with your little head games and I'm not supposed to be upset?"

Ryou leaned down and whispered into his brother's ear. "Are you mad thatI had your girl before you?"

Ryou recieved a vicious right hand to the jaw for his efforts. He lay on the floor for a moment, holding his jaw. "I'll take that as a yes."

**_Yami/Yugi's Apartment_**

Tea, Mai, and Serenity were going the rounds with each other on the latest Dance Dance Revolution game while most of the basketball team met in the small kitchen area.

"What the hell is going on here? Who called this meeting?" An irritated and slightly tired Duke piped up as everyone arrived.

"We did." Yami and Seto Kaiba stood side by side, faces serious.

"We brought you all here to discuss something...a walkout."

_Interesting developments in the offing...Nathan gets bailed out of jail by his high-school sweetheart. If he still has feelings for her, why is he so uncomfortable? Kaiba and Yami are talking walk-out, plus Ryou and Bakura have their own issues. Will all of this be resolved by the time they play Gonzaga. Well...will they even PLAY Gonzaga? Find out next time? _

_Sorry, but I gotta go. Three things...first thanks to EVERYBODY who reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate it a bunch. Second, there was a complaint about my rants. If you don't me to put such things in my fics, please let me know. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I try to do a lot of things when I write, but offending someone isn't one of them. Third...the fight song I wrote (which is more of an exercise to relieve writer's block than anything else) is based on the Arizona University fight song "Fight Wildcats Fight!" If you can name the seven schools that I mentioned in the fight song, you get a prize! (OK, the prize I haven't determined yet, but three of the schools are pretty obvious...four of them are a little tougher.) _

_Well, that's it and that's all... I hope the juice was worth the squeeze._

BDB...out


	29. Yield Not To Temptation

**A/N: **Hello people. Sorry that I haven't updated this sooner, but some other ideas running around in my head had to be put to paper before I could get back to this fic. Here's a quick thank you to my reviewers:

**_LeighC: _**I understand…it's OK to be a homer and go for those close to you. Enjoy the chapter!

**_The Broken Bow: _**Glad that you're back amongst the living, LOL. Thanks for reading.

**_Anime Ruthless: _**Almost, friend, almost. You got the first five right, but the last two I were looking for were Michigan (Big Blue) and Nebraska (Big Red). Thanks for reading!

Sorry about the long wait...enjoy.

**_Chapter 28: Yield Not To Temptation_**

Thirteen players had cast ballots. Thirteen votes had been counted. Yami and Seto had decided beforehand that it would be Kaiba's responsibility to share the result of the vote to the rest of the team.

"Well, what's the vote say Moneybags?" Joey said as Kaiba ripped up the remaining ballots.

"By a vote of 7-6...we'll continue to play."

There was no joy in the room as teammate eyed teammate, each wondering which seven had decided to carry on.

"Then it's settled...we'll practice as usual until Tristan informs us otherwise. Game film sessions will remain the same as well." The team nodded as they listened to one of their captains speaking, waiting patiently for every word.

Slowly, the players left the kitchen, heading to other activities. When it cleared out, only Yami and Kaiba remained.

"You know that I was for the walkout, Yami..." Kaiba's blue eyes glared into Yami's crimson.

"Will you still play?"

Kaiba turned to leave, picking up his gym bag. "Maybe..."

* * *

"You didn't have to come get me, you know." 

Nathan sat in the passenger side of his former girlfriend's red sedan.

"I know. I'll take you to my place for the evening. You probably have reporters calling off the hook, so you wouldn't sleep there anyway."

Nathan immediately frowned at her suggestion. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Jessie smiled, but kept her focus on the road. "Why not? It's not like I'm going to try to anything."

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"So are you trying to call me a whore or something?"

"No."

"Good...you have just as much to do with us breaking up as I did. You hurt me as much as I hurt you, if not more so." She gripped the steering wheel tightly as she spoke, her green eyes slowly filling with tears.

"I'll come over..._just for tonight._" He hoped he hadn't made the biggest mistake of his life by accepting her offer.

* * *

"Chanchellor Shadi?...yes, sir...Good, sir. I'll announce it tomorrow." 

Pegasus hung up the phone, a sinister smile on his face. He himself could not believe that their plan would work this good. Now they could fire the coach, shut down the program, and collect all of their money in various gambling winnings. He was truly a damn genious.

_Tomorrow, Colby-boy, you'll be out of a job. HAHAHAHA!_

_

* * *

_

Ishizu put down the phone, a wicked smile on her face. Odeion had just called her, and he was comming back into town tonight. As she lay down in her bed and drifted off to sleep, she knew that Pegasus's days were numbered. They had found the evidence that would be his downfall, as well as that of the Chanchellor and his Board of Directors. The school's governing body would be in absolute disarray and the student body would go nuts when they found out the truth. Just one problem...how would everyone find out?

* * *

Nathan was sleeping comfortably on the futon that Jessica had let him use for the night. As he was dreaming, he went back to his old playing days at Kansas...the first days that he and Jessica had separated.

_Rooooooooooock Chaaaaaaaaaaalk JaaaaaaaaaayHaaaaaawk Kaaaaaaaayuuuuuuuu_

_Nathan sat in the locker room, just listening to the crowd. He had never heard anything louder in his life. The young freshman was adjusting well to his new surroundings, but it all seemed meaningless without her with him. He could win 1,000 National Titles, but no wooden trophy or championship banner could replace what he had with her. Ever. As he tried to push his old love out of his mind and focus on basketball, he heard a bang of a drum that sent the crowd into a fever pitch._

_ROCKCHALK, JAYHAWK, KU!  
ROCKCHALK, JAYHAWK, KU!  
ROCKCHALK, JAYHAWK, KU!_

As he was dreaming he didn't notice that Jessica had come into the living room wearing only her nightgown and a lustful smile. He didn't notice that she had climbed onto the futon...and onto him. His dreams of basketball were replaced with the more visually appealing glimpses of a young woman's beautiful face. He could feel her weight on top of him. He could smell the scent of her perfume. He heard the seductive nature of her voice as she leaned forward and whispered into his ear.

"Tonight...I'm going to give you everything you want. As much as you want. However you want."

There was a problem though. As Nathan opened his eyes and awoke from his dream, he realized that the woman he had been fantasizing about was NOT the woman straddled onto his waist.

This was officially a nightmare come true.

**_Wow...feels like I haven't updated this thing since the damn Reagan administration. OK, I know it hasn't been that long, but it feels this way. To all of you who have been looking for an update, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm done. Till next time..._**

**_Forever LSU_**

**_BDB...out_**


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